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2023 Supreme(Jhk) 1544

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
Subhash Chand, J.
Subodh Bara Babu @ Subodh Kumar Yadav – Petitioner
Versus
The State of Jharkhand and Others – Respondents
Cr. Revision No. 667 of 2022
Decided On : 18-10-2023

Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner: B.M. Tripathy
For the Respondents: Manoj Kumar Mishra, Afaque Ahmed

Headnote:(A) Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 - Section 197 - Criminal Revision against dismissal of discharge application - The learned trial court failed to consider that the FIR was registered against a public servant without prior investigation, and thus, needed the requisite sanction as per Section 197 - The testimony of the victim was not corroborated by medical evidence, and the FIR details were inconsistent and unreliable - The court set aside the impugned order, leading to the petitioner's discharge. (Paras 13, 14, 19)

(B) Legal Principle - The court acknowledged that a public servant requires protection against frivolous charges and thus rejected the trial's cognizance due to lack of required prosecution sanction. (Paras 12, 14.1, 14.2)

Facts of the case:
The petitioner, a public servant, was accused of rape under Section 376 IPC, which he contested stating that the FIR was filed without proper investigation and lacked corroborative evidence. (Paras 8, 9, 10)

Findings of Court:
The initial FIR was based solely on the victim's testimony without corroboration, and hence no case for charge against the petitioner was established. (Paras 16, 18)

Issues: The key issues centered around whether the cognizance of the case was valid, given the need for prosecution sanction for public servants under Section 197 CrPC and the nature of evidence supporting the charges. (Paras 12, 14)

Ratio Decidendi: The court's reasoning hinged on the requirement of prosecution sanction for public servants to prevent misuse of the legal process and ensure the validity of the charges. (Paras 14.3, 15)

Result: The criminal revision is allowed, and the petitioner is discharged from the offence under Section 376 IPC.

Table of Content
1. erred order regarding discharge application. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4)
2. framework of evaluating discharge applications. (Para 5 , 6)
3. incident details and investigation overview. (Para 7 , 8 , 10 , 11)
4. requirement for prosecution sanction for public servants. (Para 12 , 14 , 15 , 16)
5. final judgment and discharge of accused. (Para 18 , 19 , 20)

JUDGMENT :

Subhash Chand, J.

1. Heard learned senior counsel for the petitioner, learned A.P.P. for the State and learned counsel for the Opposite Party No. 2.

2. The instant criminal revision is against the order dated 28th June, 2022 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge-I, Sahebganj in M.C.A. No. 45 of 2020, arising out of S.T. Case No. 10 of 2020, whereby the petition for discharge filed on behalf of the petitioner had been dismissed.

3. Mr. B.M. Tirpathy, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that the impugned order passed by the learned court below is erroneous in the eyes of law as well as on facts. The learned trial court did not consider the allegations made against the petitioner which were far from truth. The police after concluding the investigation had filed the Final Report against which the informant filed protest-cum-complaint petition on 28th September, 2010 and the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sahebganj took cognizance against the petitioner under Section 376 of the I.P.C. It is further submitted that against the order taking cognizance dated 18th October, 2018, the petitioner preferred a criminal miscellaneous petition being Cr.M.P. No. 1595 of 2010 before this Court which was quashed vide order dated 1st September, 2016 and the matter was remanded to the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sahebganj with a direction to pass a fresh order in accordance with law after considering the materials on record. Thereafter, the learned S.D.J.M. Sahebganj again took cognizance on 19th December, 2016 against the petitioner under Section 376 I.P.C. Against the said cognizance order, the petitioner again preferred a criminal miscellaneous petition being Cr.M.P. No. 69 of 2017 before this Court and vide order dated 16th July, 2019 the same was dismissed with an observation that the Court has not expressed any opinion or view on the merit of the case and discussion is confined to the legality of the cognizance taking order. The trial court was further directed to decide the case on its own merit without being prejudiced or influenced by any observation made by this Court. It is further submitted that the learned trial court while rejecting the discharge application of the petitioner relied upon the testimony of Bishu Paswan, the peon of Employment Exchange, Sahebganj while from the attendance register, it appears that he was not present in office on 26th November, 2009. The learned trial court did not rely upon the medical evidence in which no sign of rape or injury i.e., external or internal over the body party of the victim was found. The victim was a married women aged about 52 years and she is also having children. It is also submitted that the employment exchange card of the victim was valid up to 26th April, 2010, as such, there was no occasion for renewal of the same as alleged by the victim/informant on 26th November, 2009. Indeed, the petitioner has falsely been implicated in this case in order to harass him and also to extort money. From the investigation itself, it is found that the vaginal swab report was not received during investigation and merely relying upon the testimony of the statement of the prosecutrix, the learned trial court declined to allow the discharge application of the petitioner. Lastly, learned senior counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the informant has stated in the F.I.R. that she reached at Sahebganj at 10:00 a.m. by Dhulian passenger train on 26th November, 2009 but as per certificate received from the Railway Station, the train on the very day of occurrence had reached to

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