1. Petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. Petitioner, who is the accused in Crime No.143/CR/OCW-III/PKD of CBCID, has approached this Court with the following prayer :

"In the above circumstances, it is most humbly prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to quash all further proceedings in Crime No.143/CR/OCW-III/PKD of CBCID Head Quarters, Thiruvananthapuram as it is an abuse of process of court."

2. Facts in brief, are as follows:

Petitioner is an Indian citizen, now working in a bank in Dubai. He is implicated as accused in the above crime alleging an offence punishable under Section 12(1)(b) of the Passports Act, 1967( in short 'the Act'). Prosecution case is that the petitioner willfully changed his name and educational qualification in the application for passport with a view to obtain a passport with fictitious identity. Prosecution contended that the petitioner having actual name as 'Shyamesh', wrongly stated his name as 'Shymesh' and obtained a passport. Further, he had passed S.S.L.C at the time of making the application. But he suppressed that fact and had shown his educational qualification as 8th standard. Prosecution contended therefore that these differences in the spelling of his name and educational qualification were intentionally made for securing a passport.

3. Heard Sri. K.K. Dheerendrakrishnan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri.Justin Jacob, learned Public Prosecutor.

4. Section 12(1)(b) of the Passport Act reads as follows :

"12. Offences and penalties. –

(1) Whoever -

(a) x x x x x

(b) knowingly furnishes any false information or suppresses any material information with a view to obtaining a passport or travel document under this Act or without lawful authority alters or attempts to alter or causes to alter the entries made in a passport or travel document; or

(c) x x x x x

(d) x x x x x

(e) x x x x x

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees or with both."

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the offence alleged against the petitioner by the prosecution is legally not sustainable. I have perused the records submitted by the Detective Inspector, CBCID, OCW-III, Thrissur Unit. Actually, petitioner is the 9th accused in Crime No.1268/2005 of Town East Police Station, Thrissur registered for handling counterfeit currency. During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the petitioner had changed his name and obtained a passport giving wrong details regarding name and educational qualification. Petitioner has produced documents as Annexures I and II, viz; copies of birth certificate and driving licence to show that his name is 'Shymesh'. In the reports submitted by the Investigating Officer, it is mentioned that the name of the petitioner is shown as 'Shyamesh' in the admission register kept in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Elamakkara, Ernakulam and also in the School Leaving Certificate.

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that even if we take note of the contention of the prosecution that the petitioner had wrongfully spelt his name in the passport application and had shown a different educational qualification, it will not constitute an offence under Section 12 of the Act.

7. On a careful reading of the provision, it can be seen that the offence under Section 12 of the Act is attracted only when a person knowingly furnishes any false information or suppresses any material information with a view to obtain a passport. Here, copy of the public documents produced by the petitioner would show that his name was spelt as 'Shymesh'. Further, in the passport application even if he had stated that he had passed S.S.L.C, instead of showing the educational qualification as 8th standard, it does not make any difference in the matter of granting a passport, if he is found otherwise eligible. Therefore, the non mentioning of proper educational qualification cannot b