ARVIND SINGH SANGWAN, J.

1. Vide this common order, I intend to dispose of 05 petitions i.e. CRM-M Nos.1490, 22387 and 22418 of 2013 and 24056 and 23956 of 2014, as common questions of law and facts are involved for adjudication.

2. It may be noticed that counsel for the respondent/complainant had stopped appearing in Court and vide order dated 10.10.2017, a legal aid counsel was appointed to assist the Court.

3. Prayer in all the aforesaid 05 petitions is for quashing of criminal complaint No.87 dated 04.06.2012 titled as 'Sunil Sharma vs Sony India Private Limited and others' (Annexure P1) and the subsequent proceedings arising therefrom as well as the summoning order dated 19.07.2012 (Annexure P3) passed by the trial Court vide which the petitioners have been summoned under Sections 292 and 293 of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC') and 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 (in short 'the Act of 1986') as the complaint do not disclose commission of any criminal offence and the proceedings would amount to abuse and misuse of process of law and result in failure of justice.

4. The brief facts of the case noticed in Para Nos. 1 to 11 of the complaint (Annexure P1) are being reproduced as under, as the petitioners have heavily relied upon the contents of complaint to argue that a bare perusal of the same do not disclose any offence:-

“1. That the accused No.1 is Sony India Company and accused No.2 is the North Branch of the accused No.1, indulged in selling of gaming console known as playstation and also developing/producing/selling certain games like “God of War” (a series of games) and “Heavy Rain”, as both are indulged in doing the same, act, in the same manner, so both have been made party in this complaint.

That the accused Nos.3 and 5 are the companies, indulged in developing, testing and distributing/selling games in India, and accused No.4 & 6 are the concerned officers of both the companies, mentioned here as accused No.3 & 5 respectively.

2. That accused No.1 & 2, being the same company, i.e. Sony India, are famous for its games known as “God of War” (a series of games) and “Heavy Rain”, accused No.3 is Electronic Arts (EA Games), which is the maker/seller of the game called “Dante's Inferno”, and accused No.5 is Ubisoft, the maker/seller of game called “Beowulf”.

That accused No.4 & 6 are the concerned officers of the companies mentioned here as accused No.4 & 6 are the concerned officers of the companies, mentioned here as accused No.3 & 5, respectively, who are to be liable for the acts committed by their respective company, as laid down under Cr.P.C. & Section 7 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 as they were found to be the officers concerned in the company's offices in India, when the company was communicated through Telephonic Calls, E-mails and legal notice, by the complainant.

3. That all the names of the games mentioned in the para No.2, i.e. “God of War” (all series), “Heavy Rain”, Dante's Inferno, Beowulf, contain scenes/contents of excessive nudity, sexual themes and representing women in indecent manner before the people in India at large, which mostly includes persons of teen age, as gaming is the hobby of teenagers mostly.

4. That games are mostly played by teenagers, and the games containing scenes/contents of excessive nudity, sexual themes and indecent representation of women are being sold to young persons in India, with no prior certification or authority from the Government of India.

5. That in foreign countries, there is a board known as ESRB, who gives rating to the games, according to the contents of games and direct companies to mention on the games and restrict their sale to certain persons of certain age groups. In India, there is Censor Board, for controlling nudity, sex and such indecent representation of women, in movies released throughout India. Even this board is not allowed by Indian law to allow totally/half naked bodies of