The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has held in the case of Subhash Mishrilal Jain v. Laxman Kondiba Aswar that mere allegation that the accused abused the complainant does not itself satisfy the ingredients of an offence under section 504 of IPC. Section 504 speaks of ‘Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace.’
The Bench of Justice Rohit B. Deo observed that the material on record does not disclose the ingredients of section 504 IPC and therefore quashed the order of issuance of process under this provision.
The Court had confirmed the issuance of process under section 506 of IPC, i.e. ‘Punishment for criminal intimidation. The Court concluded that the ingredients of section 504 are not disclosed and observed that everything that is alleged shows that the accused abused the complainant. Such an allegation does not satisfy the ingredients of an offence punishable under section 504 of IPC, and therefore learned Magistrate erred in issuing process.
However, the Court did not find fault in the issuance of the process concerning section 506 IPC (Criminal intimidation) as it was specifically alleged that the complainant was threatened to be killed if he did not give away the land.
The Court further observed that while summoning a person to face criminal prosecution is a serious matter, the judicial mind must be applied to the material on record before issuing process. The application of the judicial mind can be inferred and presumed if the material on record from the complaint and the verification statement is sufficient to make out a case for trial.
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