IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/SPECIAL CRIMINAL APPLICATION (QUASHING) NO. 10262 of 2025 ==========================================================

NARSINHBHAI MANIYABHAI RATHVA Versus STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.

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Appearance:

MAHESHKUMAR S VASAVA(9394) for the Applicant(s) No. 1 MS SHRUTI PATHAK, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1 ==========================================================

CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HASMUKH D. SUTHAR Date : 24/07/2025

ORAL ORDER

“Law is the king of kings. Nothing is mightier than law. With its aid, even the weak can prevail over the strong.”

– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

1. RULE. Learned APP waives service of notice of rule on behalf of the respondent State.

2. By way of present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 528 of the BNSS, the petitioner has prayed to quash and set aside the FIR being CR No.11184006250144 of 2025 registered with Kawant Police Station, Chhotaudepur and all the consequential proceedings arising therefrom.

3. Learned advocate for the petitioner submits that the applicant has nothing to do with the offence and he is falsely implicated in it. That the compliant filed by the complainant, on the face of it, does not constitute any offence against the present petitioner. Even if the allegations mentioned in the complaint are accepted to be true in their entirety, without admitting the same to be true, no offence is made out against the present petitioner. It is submitted that all the allegations made by the complainant are absurd, baseless, untrue, and vindictive in nature. The present petitioner is serving as a Sarpanch, and with a view to harm his reputation and prevent him from contesting the election, he has been falsely implicated in the complaint. Therefore, it is submitted that the name of the present petitioner, which has been wrongly shown as an accused in the complaint, may be quashed and set aside. The allegations levelled against the present petitioner have never occurred. The petitioner himself is a senior citizen, suffering from multiple health ailments. At the time of the mediation between the two groups, the petitioner had always appealed to all concerned to maintain peace and remain calm. However, both groups, on their own, continued levelling allegations against each other. It is pertinent to note that both groups had come to the house of the petitioner, where he only attempted to intervene to maintain peace. The petitioner has been falsely roped in the present case with vague and unsubstantiated allegations, and the complainant has wrongly implicated him. It is submitted that the trial would be futile, and further continuance of the proceedings pursuant to the impugned F.I.R. would amount to an abuse of the process of law. Hence, to secure the ends of justice, the proceeding of the FIR qua the present petitioner is required to be quashed and set aside. Even otherwise, the inclusion of the name of the present petitioner as an accused in the F.I.R. is erroneous and prima facie politically motivated, and therefore, the same deserves to be quashed and set aside.

4. The learned APP has strongly opposed the present application, asserting that the applicants are involved in the offence. It is submitted that the role of present applicant, who is the Sarpanch of the village, is not only peripheral but central in the chain of events leading to the unfortunate death of the deceased Rahul. On 14.01.2025, the applicant, along with other co-accused, came to Kayadi village in two vehicles searching for the deceased and forcibly took the complainant (mother of the deceased) to Motisakhal village at his residence, thereby actively participating in the illegal confinement and intimidation of the complainant and her family. Further, on 20.01.2025, the accused applicant called the complainant and her brother-in-law to his house, where a meeting with the co-accused and family members of Pr