Court rules police can register FIR for threatening false evidence under Section 195A of IPC, without prior complaint from a court, reinforcing legislative intent for cognizability.

ORDER :

D. BHARATHA CHAKRAVARTHY, J.

This Criminal Revision Petition is filed with a prayer to call for the records pertaining to the charge sheet in Spl.S.C.No.39 of 2020 on the file of the Special Court for Trial of Cases under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Sivagangai and quash the same insofar as the petitioner is concerned.

2. The above case arises out of Crime No.04 of 2020 on the file of the All Women Police Station, Sivagangai for the alleged offences under Sections 195A, 201, 508(1) and 214 of the INDIAN PENAL CODE (hereinafter referred to as 'IPC') read with Section 3(2)(vi) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015 (hereinafter referred to as 'the SC/ST Act') and Section 16 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereinafter referred to as 'the POCSO Act').

3. There are three accused in the above case. The first accused is one Murugan, the second accused is the petitioner herein and the third accused is one Indraganthi. The case of the prosecution is that L.W.1, the victim child involved in this case was aged about 14 years in the year 2015. She belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. Since her mother died, she was in the care of her grandmother, who is L.W.5. While there, she stayed in a Home namely, Jebathota Magizhchi Illam and was studying IV standard in the Panchayat Union Elementary School, Periyanarikottai village. At that time, the first accused was the Headmaster of the said school. On 06.04.2015, at about 3.00 P.M., the first accused took the child to the toilet of the school and committed penetrative sexual assault on the child. As such, a case in Crime No.6 of 2015 was registered and after investigation, finding prima facie material against the first accused concerning the victim-child and also some more children, a Final Report was filed against the first accused under Section 6 read with Section 5 (f)(1)(m)(o)(p), Section 10 read with Section 9 (f)(d) of the POCSO Act read with Section 3(1)(xi)(xii) of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Ordinance Amendment Act, 1989 and Rule 7(i) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995 and the case is taken on file and is pending in Spl. S.C.No.15 of 2015.

4. When the matter was pending, on 24.04.2016, knowing the fact that the victim child was supposed to give evidence on 25.04.2016, the first accused, along with his wife/petitioner herein, who is the second accused, went to the house of the child and also her grandmother and pressurised and threatened them to give false evidence in the case. Similarly, they went to the houses of the other victim-children involved in the case and pressured them to give false evidence. In continuation thereof, when the victim child and the other victim children came to the Court on 25.04.2016 at about 9.45 A.M to depose before the Court, the first accused took them to the chambers of the Special Public Prosecutor, the third accused. The third accused, being in the position of the Special Public Prosecutor, instead of encouraging them to speak the truth, to save the first accuse