JUDGMENT :

S. Ravindra Bhat, J.

1. The present appeal¹[Crl.A. No. 309/2023.] was heard finally, with the consent of counsel for parties. The appellants are aggrieved by the judgment of the Kerala High Court²[Dated 03.03.2016 in Crl. MC No. 5072/2015.] rejecting their petition under Section 482, Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (hereafter “Cr. PC”). They had, through those proceedings, sought a direction to quash a criminal complaint instituted against them.

2. The appellants urge that one P.M. Mammu Haji leased two shop rooms (numbered as municipal numbers VII/214 and VII/215- hereafter “the premises”), long ago (in 1916), before the coming into force of the Wakf Act. “Norman Printing Bureau” (hereafter “the Bureau”) was a concern of Achuthan Nair; it was functioning in the premises. A partnership firm was later created, with one P.V. Sami as a partner. The firm continued all these years and continues now. The Bureau publishes ‘Norman Almanac’ containing astronomical data used in astrology.

3. The respondents allege that P.M. Mammu Haji created a wakf in 1951. After his death, a suit was filed by his legal heirs (O.S. No. 130/1965 before the Sub Court, Calicut) to remove the trustee. Ther