Criminal Original Petn. No. 3071 of 2003 AND Cri M.P. Nos. 1061 and 1062 of 2003. Case: Nirmala Rani Vs State of T.N.. High Court of Madras (India)

Case NumberCriminal Original Petn. No. 3071 of 2003 AND Cri M.P. Nos. 1061 and 1062 of 2003
CounselFor Petitioner: K. Ashokan, Sr. Counsel, for A. Saravanan and N. R. Elango, Adv. and For Respondents: O. Srinath, Govt. Advocate (Crl. Side).
JudgesV. Kanagaraj, J.
IssueCriminal Procedure Code (2 of 1974) - Section 482
Citation2003 CriLJ 3108
Judgement DateFebruary 18, 2003
CourtHigh Court of Madras (India)

Order:

  1. This criminal original petition has been filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure praying to call for the records in PRC No. 2 of 2003 on the file of the Court of Judicial Magistrate No. IV, Trichirapalli and to quash the same.

  2. The petitioner would submit that she is a practising advocate and a social activist engaged in championing the causes of oppressed classes in general and the women-folk in particular; that she is also a member of the District Juvenile Justice Board and the District Advisory Committee; that she is the District Secretary (incharge) of the All India Democratic Women's Association which is fighting for the cause of women.

  3. The petitioner would further submit that on 2-4-2002, one Mythili Sivaraman of All India Democratic Women's Association, Chennai, received an anonymous letter to the effect that one Mohana of Swaminathapuram, Thiruverambur, Trichy District was indulging the author of the letter and some other girls in prostitution against their wish and requested the Association to save them further stating that the said Mohana is silencing the local police by paying bribe and the police exploited them; that the above letter was forwarded to the Trichy Unit of the Association and the enquiry made by the said Unit revealed the inter-State trafficking of women and therefore a representation was given to the District Collector, which in turn was forwarded to the Police for investigation; that representations were also given to the National Human Rights Commission and to the Additional Director General of Police, CBCID on 25-10-2002; that though the representation was given on 18-10-2002, only after efforts taken by the Association, a case was registered against the said Mohana on 29-10-2002 under Section 4 (2) (b) of the Indian Trafficking (Prevention) Act.

  4. The petitioner would further submit that the above said events were published in all the newspapers both in English and vernacular dailies and in such circumstances, news item appeared in vernacular dailies that All India Democratic Women's Association is naming the entire eunuch community as pimps taking advantage of the fact that Mohana is a eunuch and all these reports were duly denied by the Association; that in this background, a case was registered against the petitioner on the complaint given by the above Mohana on 5-11-2002 for the alleged offence punishable under Section 3 (1) (x) of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The petitioner would submit that in the said complaint it is alleged as though the petitioner gave press statements against the complainant and when the same was questioned by the complainant, the petitioner is alleged to have threatened the complainant with disparaging remarks on her caste, which is the subject giving the cause of action the case to be registered against the petitioner. The remarks alleged to have been made by the petitioner in Tamil are as follows:

    (Note: The matter of vernacular text has not been reproduced.)

  5. Based on the above remarks alleged to have been made by the petitioner, the de facto-complainant is said to have sent written representations to various authorities including the PCR Unit, Trichy, which is alleged to have registered a case in its Crime No. 1/2002 under Section 354 IPC and Section 3 (1) (xi) of the S.C. and S.T. (P.A.) Act, 1989 dated 5-11-2002 and the said F.I.R. having been transferred to the respondent, himself having investigated into the said case, has filed the charge-sheet in his charge-sheet No. 3/2003 dated 1-1-2003 and the same has been taken on file by the Court of Judicial Magistrate No. IV, Trichirapalli in P.R.C. No. 2 of 2003 and it is only praying to quash the said P.R.C., the petitioner has come forward to file the above criminal original petition on certain grounds such as,

    (i) that though the prosecution claims that the offence was committed within the public view, no independent witness particularly the neighbours of the petitioner were examined by the respondent during the investigation;

    (ii) that the offences under Sections 354 and 3 (1) (xi) of the S.C. and S.T. (P.A.) Act, 1989 by their very nature can be committed only by a man and therefore, the petitioner cannot be charged for the above said offences;

    (iii) that Section 7 of the Protection of the Civil Rights Act, 1955 is also not attracted to the materials collected by the Investigating Agency and the said Section would be attracted only if the act committed by the accused out of 'untouchability';

    (iv) that Section 75 of the City Police Act is also not attracted since the occurrence admittedly took place within the house of the petitioner and not in the public place;

    (v) that the complaint preferred by the All India Democratic Association to the Collector on 18-10-2002 was forwarded to the police and a case was registered only on 29-10-2002, however, till date, the accused in that case are not arrested and the complainant in this case, who is named accused in the petitioner's complaint gave a statement under Section 164 Cr.P.C. which was sponsored by the Investigating Officer and the Magistrate recorded the statement on 26-11-2002 and the complainant in that statement made no whisper about the present occurrence and this will show that this case is foisted only with a view to harass the petitioner and to stop her from effectively persuading her efforts against the social evils viz. prostitution;

    (vi) that the Association gave a representation to the Hon'ble Chair Person of the National Human Rights Commission on 2-12-2002 thereby mentioning violation of human...

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