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2023 Supreme(Bom) 1013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
Kishore C. Sant, J.
Sunil Bapurao Gawalwad – Appellant
Versus
State of Maharashtra – Respondent
Criminal Writ Petition No. 391 of 2021
Decided On : 18-01-2023

Advocates appeared:
Sushant V.Dixit, Advocate, S.R.Yadav, Advocate, G.R.Syed, Advocate

The central legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for the learned Magistrate to apply his mind properly while issuing process, as emphasized in the relevant judgments.

Headnote:

Sec. 494 - Criminal Procedure - Indian Penal Code - Sec. 109 - Criminal Procedure - Sec. 156 (3) - Criminal Procedure - [SUMMARY]

Fact of the Case:

The case involves the issuance of process against the petitioners for the offence punishable under Sec. 494 of the Indian Penal Code and Sec. 109 of the Indian Penal Code. The petitioners challenged the order of issuance of process on various grounds, including the failure of the learned Magistrate to follow proper procedure.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the statements of witnesses supported the contents of the complaint and that the questions regarding the presence of the petitioner No. 3 and the existence of the girl named Pushpa are to be decided during the trial. The court concluded that no case was made out calling for interference.

Issues: The main contention was whether the learned Magistrate followed the proper procedure in issuing the process, and whether the statements of witnesses supported the contents of the complaint.

Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized the need for the learned Magistrate to apply his mind properly while issuing process, as established in the judgments of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the cases of Pepsi Foods Ltd. v. Special Judicial Magistrate and Maksud Saiyed v. State of Gujarat, and the judgment of the State of Maharashtra v. Shashikant Eknath Shinde.

Final Decision: The rule was discharged, and the court found that no case was made out calling for interference.

JUDGMENT

1. Heard learned advocates for the parties. Taken up for final disposal at the stage of admission.

2. The petitioners/accused persons against whom an order of issuance of process is passed are before this Court. Against the petitioner No. 1 the process is issued for the offence punishable under Sec. 494 of the Indian Penal Code (for short "I.P.C.") and against petitioner Nos. 2 to 15 the process is issued for the offence punishable under Sec. 109 of the I.P.C. by order dtd. 15/9/2012 in R.C.C. No. 109/2011 by the learned J.M.F.C., Kandhar. There is long history before passing of this order. Initially, respondent No. 2-wife filed complaint in the Court of learned J.M.F.C., Kandhar against the petitioners and one Pushpa @ Pinki w/o Sunil Gawalwad for the offence punishable under Sec. 494 of the I.P.C. Accused No. 2 - Pushpa who is not before this Court and it is alleged that there is no such girl by name Pushpa Sunil Gawalwad. For the accused Nos. 3 to 16 process is issued for the offence punishable under Sec. 109 of the I.P.C. The learned Magistrate by order dtd. 27/7/2011 had issued process. However, the said order came to be challenged by filing revision bearing Criminal Revision Application No. 21/2011 in the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kandhar on various grounds including that no case is made out to issue process. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kandhar by judgment and order dtd. 17/10/2011 was pleased to partly allow the revision application holding that the learned Magistrate has not taken sufficient care before passing the order. The learned Magistrate was directed to pass appropriate legal order by following provisions of law. It was on the ground that only the complainant was examined by the learned Magistrate. The persons who have directly witnessed the offence were not examined.

3. The order of remand was challenged by the petitioners by filing Criminal Writ Petition No. 1008/2011 in this Court. This Court has considered only the aspect of procedure followed by the learned Magistrate while issuing process. This Court found that no error is committed by the learned Sessions Judge while remanding the matter and disposed off the criminal writ petition by its order dtd. 8/1/2013.

4. It is thereafter the learned Magistrate again examined the respondent No. 2 and other two witnesses namely Yadav Nivrutti Baswante and Digambar Nagorao Nampalle who allegedly have witnessed the incident of second marriage. After examining these witnesses the learned Magistrate issued process by order dtd. 15/9/2012 against the accused persons. The petitioners again filed Criminal Revision Application No. 40/2012 in the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kandhar. The learned Additional Sessions Judge found that no ground is made out to interfere with the order and has dismissed the criminal revision application by its judgment and order dtd. 17/8/2018. It is specifically observed that, all the grounds raised in the criminal revision application are the grounds raised by way of defence including the plea of alibi that was raised by petitioner No. 3 and no defence can be considered at this stage. It is thus now the petitioners have filed this petition before this Court.

5. The main contention of the learned advocate for the petitioners is that now even in the second order the learned Magistrate has not followed the proper procedure. The order of issuance of process does not show application of mind. The learned J.MF.C. has not discussed as to how ingredients of Sec. are attracted and how the offence is made out. He further submits that, the place where the marriage as allegedly taken place itself is not in existence. The petitioner No. 3 was serving at Pune and on the date of alleged incident he was in Pune. He has also produced on record a log book of his car since he is in service as Class I officer. There is no log book maintained of his car. He further produced on record a certificate issued by the Chairma

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