Allahabad High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Karuna Nand Bajpayee, J. declined to quash the order passed by the Judicial Magistrate summoning the applicant in a case arising under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
The applicant prayed for quashing the summoning order passed by the Magistrate, and all his contentions related to disputed questions of facts. The veracity and credibility of the evidence furnished on behalf of the prosecution was questioned and false implication was alleged.
The Court referred to various decisions of the Supreme Court and observed that
“the law regarding sufficiency of evidence is well settled. The court has to eschew itself from embarking upon a roving enquiry into the last details of the case. It is also not advisable to adjudge whether the case shall ultimately end in conviction or not. Only a prima facie satisfaction of the court about the sufficient ground to proceed in the matter is required.”
The Court held that the submissions made by the appellant calls for adjudication on pure questions of facts, an exercise that has to be extensively undertaken by the trial court. The High Court could not be persuaded to have a pre-trial before the actual trial commences. Further, the material placed on record made out a prima facie case against the applicant. In such a case, the instant application filed under Section 482 of CrPC praying for quashing the summoning order passed by the Magistrate, was dismissed while allowing the applicant to file an application before the trial court for compounding of offence. [Manoj Kumar v. State of U.P., 2018 SCC OnLine All 559, order dated 05-03-2018]
