Improvement In Charge Sheet Without Supporting Material Is Ground For Quashing Proceedings U/S 482 CrPC: Andhra Pradesh High Court

Brief Facts of the case

On the FIR lodged by the complainant, a case was registered under various offences of IPC viz. Sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 149 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint). On completion of investigation, charge sheet had been laid against the petitioner/accused.

The allegations in the charge sheet mentioned that when the complainant along with other officials of Irrigation Department and Revenue Department started the channel work, the petitioners/accused formed themselves into an unlawful assembly, caused obstructions to the channel work, assaulted the complainant and other public servants to deter from discharge of their duties, restrained them, threatened them with dire consequences and caused disobedience to the order duly promulgated by the Tahsildar and Mandal Executive Magistrate under Section 144 CrPC.

A criminal petition was filed to quash the proceedings. The counsel for petitioner contended that the petitioners are in possession of the subject land till date, but in spite of subsistence of interim direction passed by the Court vide Writ Petition, the Respondents/officials trespassed into the land and tried to make constructions in the said land. It was submitted that no assault was committed by the petitioners against the complainant or any of the public servants while they were discharging their official duties.

The Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the State contended that the allegations in the charge sheet made out a prima facie case for the offences alleged and hence there were no grounds to quash the impugned proceedings.

Court's order

The Court perused the recitals in First Information Report and statement of witnesses under Section 161 CrPC, which form integral part of the charge sheet. A reading of the recitals showed that there was absolutely no averment that the complainant and other public servants were assaulted or restrained from carrying on their work. It is only mentioned that the petitioners/accused only stopped them. The Court was surprised as to how such statement had come into charge sheet, in the absence of any such averment in the FIR or Section 161 CrPC statement of the complainant. The court clearly found it to be an improvement in the charge sheet without there being any supporting material.

For the foregoing reasons, continuing of the impugned proceedings against the petitioners would have amounted to abuse of process of the Court and hence the proceedings were quashed under Section 482 CrPC to secure ends of justice.

Case Title: VINTI RAMAKRISHNA, W.G.DIST. & ORS v. P.P., HYD

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (AP) 23

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