Judgment:
Prasenjit Mandal, J.
1. This application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is at the instance of the accused persons for quashing the proceeding bearing No. C/23334/08 under Section 500/34 of the I.P.C. pending before the learned Metropolitan Magistrate, Seventh Court, Calcutta. The opposite party No. 1 filed a petition of complaint under Section 500/34 of the I.P.C. before the learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Calcutta. On receipt of the said petition of complaint, the learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate took cognizance and transferred the same to the learned Metropolitan Magistrate, Seventh Court, Calcutta under Section 192(1) of the Cr.P.C. Upon examination of the witnesses on S.A., the learned Metropolitan Magistrate issued summons upon the accused persons under Sections 500/34 of the I.P.C. The accused persons appeared before the learned Metropolitan Magistrate and they were released on bail on 20.02.2009. Thereafter they have preferred this application for quashing the proceeding stating, inter alia, that the petitioner Nos. 1 & 2 are the office bearers of the Kamalalaya Centre Private Limited and the petitioner No. 3 is the administrative officer-incharge of the safety and security of the said Kamalalaya Centre. A meeting was held on 07.06.2008 by the Kolkata Police at Lalbazar and the petitioner No. 3 was asked to attend the said meeting. Thereafter, a team consisting officials of police personnel as well as fire safety department of the State Government visited the said Kamalalaya Centre on 26.06.2008 and the said team expressed their objection and displeasure regarding the residential accommodation of the opposite party No. 1 at the basement of the said building and the usage of cooking gas at the basement as well as the system of parking of outside cars within the parking and no-parking zone of the said Kamalalaya Centre. Thereafter, the commissioner of police asked the petitioner No. 3 to take immediate steps against the aforesaid irregularities of the opposite party No. 1. The owners of the said premises also expressed their opinions in writing against the illegal car parking and opined that no such car parking would be allowed.
2. In view of such decision, the petitioner No. 3 issued letters upon the opposite party No. 1 to stop the irregularities but the opposite party No. 1 did not pay any heed. For that reason, one Title Suit No. 1620 of 2000 was instituted by the opposite party No. 1 in the City Civil Court at Calcutta and that suit is still pending. In that suit, the opposite party No. 1 prayed for an order of injunction against the petitioners and the petitioners also filed an application for injunction against the opposite party No. 1. Upon hearing both the sides, the learned Judge, City Civil Court, Calcutta directed both the parties to maintain status quo over the entry of any outside car after 12 at night. The opposite party No. 1 was restrained from allowing outside vehicle in the common passage and no parking zones in the day as well as in the night without using sticker which will be used from the competent authority of the petitioners of the Kamalalaya Centre. The 11th Annual General Meeting of the association was held on 20.06.2009 and the members of the association supported the stand and efforts of the petitioners with regard to the behaviour of the opposite party No. 1. In the meantime, the said petition of complaint was filed before the learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate by the opposite party No. 1 on 05.09.2009. Being aggrieved, the petitioners have come up with the present application.
3. Mr. Chakraborty, learned Advocate for the petitioners, submits that the petitioners took the necessary steps against the conduct and behaviour of the opposite party No. 1 for the safety and security of all the members of the aforesaid association and as such there is no ingredient of any offence under Section 500/34 of the I.P.C. Everything has been done by the petitioners on the basis of the steps taken by the Government authority such as police personnel and the fire service department of the Government of West Bengal. So, pursuant to the directions of the Government authority, the petitioners issued notice upon the opposite party No. 1 to stop illegal activities, just stated earlier. Therefore, no offence has been committed by the petitioners.
4. In support of his contention Mr. Chakraborty has referred to the following decisions:
1. The Regional Manager and Anr. v. Pawan Kumar Dubey reported in : AIR 1976 SC 1766. Mr. Chakraborty has submitted that it is the rule deducible from the application of law to the facts and circumstances of a case which constitutes its ratio decidendi and not some conclusion based upon facts which may appear to be similar.
2. Jagannath China and Ors. v. Hawkins Cookers Ltd. Reported in 1996 C Cr.LR (Cal) 114. Mr. Chakraborty has submitted that if the dispute is in the nature of a civil suit, the criminal proceeding is liable to be quashed.
5. On the other hand, Mr. Nandi, appearing on behalf of the opposite party No. 1, refers to the following decision:
State of U.P. v. O.P. Sharma reported in 1996 SCC (Cri) 497.
6. Mr. Nandi has submitted that the High Court should be loath to interfere at the threshold to thwart the prosecution exercising its inherent power under Section 482 or under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India - FIR containing all the ingredients of the offence - High Court committed grave error of law in quashing the FIR. So the proceeding should not be quashed at the initial stage.
7. Mr. Mullick, learned Advocate for the State, submits to pass appropriate orders at the Court thinks fit.
8. Having considered the submission of the learned Advocate of both the sides and on perusal of the materials on record and also the decisions cited earlier, I find that the petitioners had taken certain steps agaisnt the opposite party No. 1 who is residing at the basement of the house named Kamalalaya Centre at 156A, Lelin Sarani, Calcutta - 700 013. He has been using the LPG gas for the purpose of preparation of food. It has been observed by the residents of the said premises that the opposite party No. 1 is allowing outside cars into the suit premises. For the purpose of safety and security of the residents of the premises, they asked the opposite party No. 1 to refrain from doing certain activities and for that reason they issued the letter dated 25.07.2008 upon the opposite party No. 1. It is not in dispute that the Title Suit No. 5026 of 2008 filed the opposite party No. 1 against the petitioners is still pending. The opposite party No. 1 gave rely to such letter stating that he is using the basement room as his office cum residence with permission from the promoter / owner of the Kamalalaya Centre. He filed the suit for declaration and injunction. Order of status quo has been passed upon both the parties and the opposite party No. 1 was also restrained from allowing outside vehicle in the common passage and no parking zones in the day as well as in the night without using sticker which will be issued from the competent authority of the petitioners.
9. It is pertinent to mention that the petitioners have filed a number of documents, such as, resolution, copy of the order of injunction passed by the learned Judge, City Civil Court, Calcutta, copy of the orders passed by the learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and the learned Metropolitan Magistrate, Calcutta and the copy of the relevant letter dated 25.07.2008. All such documents are also referred to in the petition of complaint. The allegation of defamation, according to the opposite party No. 1, is contained in the letter dated 25.07.2008. The copy of such letter has also been mentioned in the petition of complaint and in fact, the opposite party No. 1 has filed copy of such letter too in his supplementary affidavit before this Court. Therefore, those documents cannot be kept outside the purview of this application because the opposite party No. 1 is also relying of such documents. So, such documents are essential for the purpose of arriving at a correct conclusion in the matter in dispute. Therefore, annexures to the revisional application can well be taken into consideration for decision.
10. This being the position, the allegation as contained in the said letter comes within the 10th Exception to Section 499 of the I.P.C. If I consider the face value of the petition of complaint taken in its entirety as true, yet I am of the view that no offence has been committed by the petitioners under Sections 500/34 of the I.P.C. In the circumstances, I am of the view that if the criminal proceeding is allowed to continue, it will be nothing but a miscarriage of justice as well as the abuse of the process of the Court. So, I am of the view that the prayer for quashing of the criminal case should be allowed.
11. Accordingly, this application succeeds. It is allowed. The criminal case bearing No. C/23334/08 under Section 500/34 of the I.P.C. pending before the learned Metropolitan Magistrate, Seventh Court, Calcutta stand quashed.
12. The petitioners are hereby discharged from their respective bail bonds.
13. Considering the circumstances, there will be no order as to costs.
14. Urgent xerox certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the learned Advocates for the parties on their usual undertaking.