The main legal point established in the judgment is that the writings on the placard displayed by the petitioner at the public meeting prima facie constituted an offence under Section 153 IPC and Section 2 of the Kerala Prevention of Disturbances of Public Meetings Act, 1961.

ORDER :

M.R. Anitha, J.

1. This criminal miscellaneous case has been filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash Charge-sheet in C.C. No. 1471/2017 of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Kasargode.

2. Petitioner's case in short is as follows:

Petitioner was a worker of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala Ltd. (in short PCK Ltd.) and engaged in spraying Endosulphan pesticide mainly used for the control of Tea Mosquitoes. Petitioner retired from employment in the year 2014. According to the petitioner, the use of the pesticide was under the directions of the concerned authorities and no health hazards actually reported by the use of the pesticide. But much cornered propagation picturising the adverse effects of the use of the pesticide Endosulphan have created very impacts in the news media. On the basis of the same and the statements of some prominent personalities social conscience turned against the use of Endosulphan.

3. Though the petitioner had been working in the plantation with direct physical contact with pesticide Endosulphan he never had any problem due to the said contact. Ultimately the Hon'ble Supreme Court in W.P.(C) No. 213/2011 directed the State Government to formulate a scheme for providing compensation to the victims for the use of Endosulphan in the State. No scientific method was adopted by any of the concerned authorities to fix whether there is any calamity created by the use of pesticide in the plantation. Petitioner genuinely doubted that some centres with vested interest are playing to see that the crops of PCK Ltd. to get diminished and thereby to cause changes in the market. Hence petitioner and others formed an organisation in the name and style 'Plantation Corporation Samrakshana Samithy' and the petitioner acted as the Secretary of the same. None of the victims raised any complaint before any proper authority regarding the damages or injuries sustained by them. After the direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court the political parties in the locality included the names of their followers and sympathisers in the list to be prepared for the purpose of providing compensation without following any criteria. Even persons suffering from tuberculosis, ear problems and other diseases are fraudulently listed as victims of Endosulphan. The use of endosulphan was as per the schedule by the National Research Centre for Cashes at Puttur, Karnataka. As per the enquiry made by the petitioner, the Government had declared payment of Rs. 5 lakh each to the victims. If it is distributed among the persons included in the list, it would result in looting of public fund. So the petitioner filed complaint before the Chief Secretary to Government, copy of which is marked as Annexure 1. Even after that no due care was taken in preparing the list. On 08.09.2016 and 01.12.2016 petitioner filed complaints before the Director, Vigilance and anti-corruption Bureau complaining about the corruptive methods followed by certain officials and the matter was investigated. Petitioner has received a communication from the Director, VAACB intimating that they have found out that a number of undeserved persons were included in the list when they have conducted the quick verification. True copy of the said communication dated 09.01.2017 with its translation is produced and marked as Annexure 2. Thereafter, petitioner filed complaint before the District Collector highlighting the need for review of the list and copy of the same is produced and marked as Annexure 3. After repeated communications by the petitioner he received copy of the quick verification report and the copy of the same with translation is produced and marked as Annexure A5 and A4 respectively The petitioner also has complaints with regard to the correctness of the list prepared and the eligibility of the beneficiaries in the list. On 30.03.2017 a meeting was convened in the compound of Collectorate, Kasargode to distribute compensation for the Endosulphan affected victims