113/2015 Cr.Misc. Suleman Lalani S/o Shamsuddin (Applicant) V/S The State & another (Respondent)
Sindh High Court
Bench: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Nazar Akbar
Order Date: 02-JUL-15
Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898)--- ----S. 561-A---Penal Code (XLV of 1860), Ss. 503 & 506---Quashing of proceedings, application for---Criminal intimidation---Respondent/ complainant, who was Executive Director of a Sugar Mill, lodged complaint that applicant, who was also one of the Directors of same Mill, and also Chief Executive of another company, in the meeting of Board of Directors of the Mill, had threatened the respondent to kill him and his family---After investigation and recording statements under S. 161, Cr.P.C., of the participants of the meetings of the Board of Directors, prosecution had submitted charge sheet against the applicant in the court of Magistrate, showing the name of applicant in column No.2 as absconder---Applicant had filed application under S.561-A, Cr.P.C., for quashing the proceedings, against him---Facts which had negated the claim of the complainant that he and his family were under threat of the death by the applicant were; that the conduct of applicant/accused did not show that at any point of time he had the will or wish to take the law in his hands; that alleged incident took place within 15 minutes of the start of the meeting of the Board of Directors, and meeting did not end in fiasco---Requirements of the S.503, P.P.C., therefore, were missing in the case---Complainant did exactly what he wanted to do, and did nothing which he was not legally supposed to do; that minutes of the meeting were silent about any untoward incident during the meeting---Contents of FIR and the statements under S. 161, Cr.P.C., of the prosecution witnesses stood contradicted by the record of the minutes of the meeting, during which alleged threats were issued by applicant/accused; that very fact that applicant, after the meeting, instead of committing any threatened criminal offence, preferred to file a civil suit, which had further confirmed that applicant had no will or wish and intention of causing any injury or harm to the complainant and his family; that there was a delay of eight days in lodging FIR; that no record of any attempt to arrest applicant/accused had been disclosed by the prosecution; that applicant/accused having not used any weapon in the course of alleged intimidation, there was no justification to register case under S. 506, P.P.C.; that Judicial Magistrate, also acted mechanically by accepting the challan, and did not exercise his authority in terms of S. 173, Cr.P.C.---Contents of FIR and statements of the prosecution witnesses recorded under S.506, P.P.C., were not enough to constitute a cognizable offence; that Magistrate, not only failed to exercise his jurisdiction with conscious mind under S.173, Cr.P.C., but also started proceedings in an unprecedented haste---Cognizable offence under S.506, P.P.C., was not made out for trial---Trial of a case on the facts of FIR lodged by respondent/complainant, was waste of precious time of court, besides uncalled for harassment to the applicant---Magistrate, did not apply his judicial mind to the provisions of S.173, Cr.P.C., in accepting the challan of case, which on the face of it was lacking in the material to support the prosecution story---Applicant was justified in approaching High Court---Since no cognizable offence had been made out against the applicant, prosecution of the case before Judicial Magistrate, arising out of FIR, was sheer abuse of process of the court---FIR and proceedings of the case, stood quashed in circumstances.Full judgment text for this case is not yet available on Pakistan Law Reports. Check the official Sindh High Court case law portal for the complete order.
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