IMPORTANT POINTS
The offence as per Section 353 of the IPC which deals with 'Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty' which comes under the heading (Of Criminal force and assault) is in chapter XVI of the IPC. Therefore, the said decision of the Full Bench will not have any effect as far as the definition of 'Public Servant' as per Section 21 of the IPC vis-a-vis Section 353 of the IPC is concerned.

ORDER :

The petitioner herein has been arrayed as the sole accused in the impugned Anx.A Crime No.513/2019 of Wadakkanchery Police Station, Thrissur for offences punishable under Sections 341, 323, 353, 354 and 506 of the IPC. The said crime has been registered on the basis of the First Information Statement given by the lady defacto complainant on 08.09.2019 at about 6.30 P.M in respect of the alleged incidents which have happened on the previous day (07.09.2019) at about 11.00 A.M in the morning.

2. The prosecution case in short is that the petitioner is a member of the Board of Directors of the Wadakkancherry Block Multi Purpose Co-operative Society and that the lady defacto complainant in this case is the Secretary of the said Co-operative Society and that on 07.09.2019 at about 11 A.M a meeting of the Board of directors of the said Co-operative Society was convened and due to lack of quorum the meeting could not be officially met. The petitioner who had come there in connection with the said meeting demanded the lady defacto complainant, who is the Secretary of the said Co-operative Society, that she should give him certain documents for his perusal, which she refused and thereupon he pushed her away and took the files and perused it and had also photographed some of the documents using his mobile phone and that thereby he has obstructed her from discharging her official duty and thereby committed the above said offences, etc.

3. Heard Sri.Ajay Ben Jose, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner (accused) and Sri.Suman Chakravarthy, learned Prosecutor appearing for the respondent -State.

4. Sri.Ajay Ben Jose, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner/accused would point out that the abovesaid allegations are false and baseless and further that the petitioner is a founder member of the abovesaid Co-operative Society registered in the year 2002 and that ever since the formation of the said Co-operative Society, the petitioner has been continuously elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the said Co-operative Society and that he has been the Vice President of the said Co-operative Society in the year 2002 and that in the election held in February, 2018 he was again elected as a Director, and the Board of Directors had in turn elected him as the Vice President of the said Cooperative Society. Later, due to political animosity steps were taken on behalf of the Co-operative Society to disqualify the petitioner under Section 44(1)(c) of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Rules, on the allegation that he had stood surety for a loan availed by one Thomas on 03.04.2019 from the said Co-operative Society and that the said loanee had committed default and liability accrued, etc. The petitioner was accordingly disqualified by the Joint Registrar, Thrissur, which was challenged by the petitioner before this Court and this Court as per Anx.B judgment dated 26.06.2019 in W.P.(C) No. 15499/2019 had quashed the impugned order and remitted the matter for fresh consideration in accordance with law. Thereafter, the Joint Registrar (General), Co-operative Societies, Thrissur, issued a notice dated 09.08.2019 to the petitioner to appear for personal hearing on 22.08.2019 and in pursuance thereof the petitioner had appeared before the Joint Registrar on 22.08.2019 and Anx.C statement has also been recorded on the same day. Later, the Joint Registrar by Anx.D order dated 23.09.2019 had disqualified the petitioner for the post of Director of the said Co-operative Society. Further that, the First Information Statement given by none other than the Secretary of the said Cooperative Society would make it clear that the meeting in question was convened on 07.09.2019 which is well after Anx.C recording of statement of the petitioner on 22.08.2019 and therefore there is no necessity for the petitioner to get any documents in relation to the above disqualifying proceedings and the allegations in the impugned First Information Statement has been