K. R. PRASADA RAO, J.

( 1 ) THIS petition is filed under Section 482, Cr. P. C. , by the accused in C. C. No. 8355/1998 on the file of the Court of the IV Addl. , Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Bangalore seeking for quashing the proceedings pending in the above case against him for the offences under Section 63 of Copyright Act, 1957 and under Sections 295, 295-A, 405, 406, 499, 500, 505 and 508, IPC.

( 2 ) ON a private complaint filed jointly by the respondents, the learned Magistrate has registered the case against the petitioner for the above-referred offences after taking cognizance of the offences and after recording the sworn- statements of the complainants. It is at this stage, the petitioner approached this Court seeking for quashing the above proceedings pending against him.

( 3 ) THOUGH the complaint runs to 72 pages, the sum and substance of the case of the complaint is as under :- (A) That there is a Christian group that originated in Norway around 1905, popularly referred to as Smith"s Friends (SF) with a worldwide following of about 30,000 members. This group, the SF has a distinct interpretation of the Holy Bibla on the "humanity" of Jesus Christ and it is on account of this interpetation that, they are distinguished from other Christian groups. Their distinct interpretation is sacred to them. While other Christian denominations preach Jesus Christ as true God and true man during his birth on Earth, SF preaches that Jesus came to Earth in a body of the seed of David and He did not come with all the fullness of God and being found in human form, He humbled himself and became obedient up to death, even death on a cross. SF believes that God became man in Jesus and that this man became God. (B) The interpretation of the SF on the humanity of Jesus Christ is propagated through their writings that are in the form of songs, articles and books. Most of the writings are in Norwegian language. Norwegian authors have copyright over their works. The Norwegian Publishing House of the SF, by name " Skjulte Skatter Forlag" (SSF), publishes these writings. Some members of the SF have translated these works into the English language. The translators have copyright over their translations and are entitled to protection over their works as if they were first published within India, under Sections 14 and 40 of the Copyright Act and in accordance with the International Copyright Order, 1999. (C) The 1st respondent/ complainant is the English Language Publishing House of the SF. It was also called "the Way Publications", later, "hidden Treasures, USA" and at present "hidden Treasure Literature Inc. " Canada. The translators have assigned their copyright over their works to the first complainant under the deeds of assignment, which are produced as Annexures 8 and 9 of the complaint. The constituted attorney of the 1st respondent, Mr. Sukumar N. Oommen, is a responsible member of the SF in India. The 2nd respondent/complainant, Dr. Fred Simon Oommen, is also a responsible member of the SF in India and one of the founding Members of the Society called "christian Fellowship Centre", that was formed to propagate the sacred doctrine of the SF in India. (D) The petitioner/accused was an Officer in Indian Navy. He left the Navy in 1965 to do full time Christian work. After associating himself with different Christian groups from 1965 to 1975, he got associated with the SF. He went to Norway in 1971 along with his family at the cost of SF. In 1975, he wanted to start meetings similar to the meetings of SF, which he had seen in Norway. The meetings started in his house as meetings of the SF. The meeting house later came to be known as Christian Fellowship Centre (CFC ). The CFC was later registered under the Societies Act. (E) The respondents further alleged that on the request of the petitioner, the SF entrusted their sacred writings about their distinct doctrine to him to enable him to propo- gate their Doctrine. At the instance of the petit

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