The court emphasized that procedural remedies, such as filing a discharge petition, should be pursued in the proper forum when a case is committed to a higher court.

Headnote:
Quash - Criminal Proceedings - Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) - Sections Unspecified - The court found that the proceedings against the petitioner were already committed to the Sessions Court, allowing the petitioner to file a discharge petition, thus maintaining the right to raise all issues in that forum.
Fact of the Case:

The petitioner, a third accused in a criminal case, sought to quash proceedings against him. The case had evolved through different filings and was now pending in the Sessions Court.
Issues: Whether the proceedings against the petitioner should be quashed given that the case is pending before the Sessions Court.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the appropriate remedy for the petitioner is to file a discharge petition in the Sessions Court, where all contentions can be raised.
Final Decision: The Criminal Miscellaneous case was disposed of with directions for the petitioner to file a discharge petition.

ORDER

This Criminal Miscellaneous case is filed to quash the proceedings against the petitioner, who is the 3rd accused in CP No. 43/2018 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Cherthala.

2.When this Criminal Miscellaneous case came up for consideration, this Court directed the Registry to get a report from the learned Magistrate about the present stage of the case.

The learned Magistrate submitted a report, which is extracted hereunder :

“With reference to the above, I may submit the following for favour of kind necessary action.

CP 43/2018 was taken on file as on 26.06.2018 against 3 persons (A1 Yesudas Godson, A2 Arun Kumar and A3, Deepak). Case against A2 Arun Kumar was committed on 04.11.2019 to the Hon'ble Sessions Court Alappuzha. Case against A1 and A3 refiled as CP 35/2019 On 29.11.2019 case against A1 Yesudas Godson in CP 35/2019 was transferred to LP 64/2019 and Case against A3 Deepak in CP 35/2019 was refiled as CP 42/2019. CP 42/2019 was committed to the Hon'ble Sessions Court, Alappuzha on 24.07.2024. LP 64/2019 (Case against Yesudas Godson) was then refiled as CP 12/2020 and committed to the Hon'ble Sessions Court, Alappuzha on 03.11.2020.

Now, case against A1 Yesudas Godson is pending as SC 663/2020 in the Hon'ble Sessions Court III, Alappuzha. Case against A2, Arun Kumar is pending in the Hon'ble Sessions Court, Cherthala as SC 18/2020 and is posted to 24.08.2024 for stay report. Case against A3 Deepak is committed to the Hon'ble Sessions Court, Alappuzha on 24.07.2024.”

3.From the above, it is clear that the case is already committed to the Sessions Court. If that is the case, the petitioner can file discharge petition before the court concerned and all the contentions raised by the petitioner in this Crl.M.C. can be raised in the discharge petition. If any discharge petition is filed, the trial court will consider the same, before proceeding with the case. All the contentions raised by the petitioner are left open.

4.The Registry will forward a copy of this order to the Sessions Judge, Alappuzha forthwith. The learned Sessions Judge will see that the cases of all the accused are allotted to the same court for trial.

With the above observation, this Crl.M.C. is disposed of.

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2024 Supreme(Online)(KER) 20166

HIGH COURT OF KERALAP. G. Ajithkumar, JDEEPAK – AppellantVersusSTATE OF KERALA – RespondentCrl.MC 2278/2019

The court emphasized that procedural remedies, such as filing a discharge petition, should be pursued in the proper forum when a case is committed to a higher court.

HIGH COURT OF KERALA
P. G. Ajithkumar, J
DEEPAK – Appellant
Versus
STATE OF KERALA – Respondent
Crl.MC 2278/2019