'Trivial' : Supreme Court Quashes 2014 Criminal Case Over Petty Office Altercation

The Supreme Court quashed a chargesheet filed against an executive engineer in connection with an office altercation with his peon long back in 2014. The court took into account the trivial nature of the allegations. The court observed that there was no progress in the trial pending before Chief Judicial Magistrate since 2015.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Bela M. Trivedi was hearing an appeal against Allahabad HC judgment which had declined to quash the proceedings. The appellant was booked for causing hurt and criminal intimidation under Sections 323, 504, and 506 IPC.

The court has expressed concern that continuing with the case would be unfair and could lead to harassment of the appellant. The incident in question was a minor one that occurred at their workplace, and the court believed that it should have been resolved on the same day it happened, rather than dragging it out for so many years.

The court observed “Considering the nature of allegations against the appellant which are of a very trivial nature and considering the fact that there is no progress made in the proceedings since the chargesheet was filed against the appellant in the year 2015, the Court is of the opinion that continuing the proceedings would be persecution and harassment to the appellant. As such a petty incident which took place in their office should have been resolved by the parties on that day itself, instead of stretching it so far.”

The court allowed the appeal and quashed the proceedings before Chief Judicial Magistrate, Fatehpur (UP).

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

The appellant was working as an assistant engineer at UP Power Corporation Limited and respondent worked as a peon in the office. An altercation took place between them with respect to some articles to be given to a consumer from the store. On 11th September 2014, the appellant lodged an FIR against the respondent alleging that he had abused, threatened, and tried to assault him with his slipper. On the next day, the respondent also filed an FIR claiming that the appellant threatened to kill him. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 323, 504, and 506, IPC against the appellant, and the matter was pending with Chief Judicial Magistrate.

The appellant moved an application before Allahabad HC to quash the entire proceedings but to no avail. Aggrieved by the same, he filed an appeal before Supreme Court.

Case title: Sunil Kumar v State of UP

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 606

Click Here To Read/Download Judgment