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2010 Supreme(Ker) 641
High Court of Kerala
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE V. RAMKUMAR
Prem Shameer
Versus
The State Of Kerala
Bail Application Nos. 5910, 5914, 6594 & 6673 of 2010
Decided on : 08-11-2010
Headnote:
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 - S.34 I.P.C. and S.3(1)(iv) and (v) - Kerala Restriction on Transfer by and Restoration of Lands to Scheduled Tribes Act, 1999 - S.7(3) - Penal Code, 1860 - Sections 464, 465, 468, 420 and 120 B - Anticipatory Bail application - Interim order of police protection - pursuant to a criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused persons, Scheduled tribes by name Ponni, Kakki, Selvi and others have been dispossessed from their holdings in Sy. No. 1275 of Kottathara Village by creating documents and transferring those properties to M/s. Sarjan Realities Limited - Held, there is undoubtedly an accusation as above and that divests the Court of its jurisdiction to grant anticipatory bail. The statutory interdict is only against the granting of anticipatory bail. But there is no embargo against the Magistrate concerned granting from regular bail in an appropriate case upon a motion made in that behalf. Even if the interdict under S.18 of Act 33 of 1989 could be surmounted in a given case on the ground that there is no prima facie case made out in respect of an offence punishable thereunder, that cannot come to the rescue of the accused since this is not a fit case in which it could safely be said that the allegation of atrocity falling under clauses (iv) and (v) of S.3(1) of Act 33 of 1989 is totally unfounded. Custodial interrogation of the petitioners other than those in B.A. 6594 of 2010 cannot be denied to the Investigating Agency. - Anticipatory Bail cannot be granted - Directions issued - Ordered accordingly.
1. In these petitions filed under Section 438 Cr.P.C. the petitioners who claim to be A1, A2 and A4 to A9 in Crime No. 186 of 2010 of Agali Police Station registered for offences punishable under Sections 464, 465, 468, 420 and 120 B read with Sec. 34 I.P.C. and Sec. 3 (1) (iv) and (v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 seek anticipatory bail. The petitioner in B.A. 5910 of 2009 is A4, the petitioner in B.A. 5914/2010 is A1, the petitioners in B.A. 6594 of 2010 claim to be A5 to A9 and the petitioner in B.A. 6673 of 2010 is A2. According to the petitioners, the names of the various persons arrayed as accused persons in the above crime, so far, are as follows:-
A1 - Binu S. Nair of Agali in Palakkad District A2 - Joy K.S. of Sholayur A3 - Sankaranarayanan @ Periya Thambi of Palakkad District A4 - Prem Shameer of Beppur, Kozhikode A5 - Chandrasekhara Panicker of Kottayam District A6 - Linish T.M. of Kottayam District A7 - T.V. Somasekharan Nair of Agali A8 - Bindu S. Nair of Agali A9 - Rathi Devi of Kottayam District
2. I heard Advocate Sri. Babu S. Nair, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in B.A. Nos. 5910, 5914 and 6594 of 2010, Senior Advocate Sri. A.M. Shafeeque appearing for the petitioner in B.A. 6673 of 2010 and Adv. Sri. K.K. Raveendranath, the learned Director General of Prosecution. I also perused the case diary files.
CONTENTIONS OF THE ACCUSED
3. Senior Adv. Sri.A.M. Shafeeque and Adv. Sri. Babu S. Nair made the following submissions before me in support of the applications:-
M/s.Suzlon Energy Limited is a Public Limited Company having operations in 21 countries around the world. The Company is engaged in manufacturing Wind Turbine Generators for generating electricity from wind energy. M/s. Sarjan Realities Limited is an associate company of Suzlon Energy Limited and having its Corporate Office at Pune in Maharashtra and engaged in identifying and purchasing suitable lands for the purpose of erecting installing Wind Turbine Generators for establishing wind mills. Considering the high velocity and potential of the winds, certain villages such as Kottathara, Sholayur and Agali Villages of Mannarkad Taluk of Palakkad District were found to be ideally suited for establishing wind mills. Those areas fall under B category depending on the availability of strong winds round the year. The said area is comprised of barren hills and are not at all suitable for any agricultural operations or construction activities. After identifying the area which was found congenial for establishing Wind Turbine Generators, Suzlon Energy Limited started purchasing lands in Kottathara, Sholayur and Agali Villages through its associate Companies. The first accused (Binu S. Nair) hailing from Agali is a land purchase consultant of Suzlon Energy Limited. A2 to A9 are persons who sold properties to Sarjan Realities Limited, Pune so as to enable Suzlon Energy Limited to establish wind mills in that area. Between January 2006 and May 2009 the Company purchased a total extent of 645.65 acres of different parcels of land in Kottathara, Agali and Sholayur Villages from various persons including A2 to A9 as per 155 sale deeds executed and registered at the Sub Registry Office, Agali . None of the assignors of the company is a tribal. Their vendors are also not tribals. The controversy was started when newspaper reports appeared stating that the lands belonging to the tribals at Attappady were purchased by the Company dispossessing the triabls from their holdings. Seeing the media reports some of the local people started agitating against the Company. This was after more than three years of the company installing Wind Turbine Generators in various locations. On 30-6-2010, there was a march organized by some of the local people and political parties . There was an attempt to trespass into the properties of the Company and to cause damage to the wind mills established therein by clai
