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Criminal Miscellaneous No. 698‑Q of 1976, heard on 2nd April, 1985.
‑‑‑S. 561‑A‑‑Penal Code (XLV of 1860), S. 406/420‑‑Quashing of proceedings‑‑ Fraud‑‑ Private complaint‑‑Story of complainant simply absurd and neither supported by reliable evidence nor based on genuine facts‑‑Complaint filed to harass accused which constituted abuse of process of Court‑‑Proceedings quashed by High Court.
Sardar Najamuddin Khan for Petitioners.
Sh. Abdul Hameed for the State.
Date of hearing: 2nd April, 1985.
This petition under section 561‑A, Cr.P.C. has been filed by Abdul Rauf and two others praying that proceedings in the private complaint filed by Muhammad Iqbal, respondent No. 1 pending against them in the Court of Magistrate Section 30, Rahim Yar Khan, may be quashed.
2. The facts given in the private complaint by Muhammad Iqbal, respondent briefly are that he lived in Rahim Yar Khan while Abdul Rauf, Muhammad Ilyas and Muhammad Shafique, petitioners, lived in Chak No. 100/NP at a distance of about 5 miles from Rahim Yar Khan City in the days of occurrence with whom he had developed friendly relations. He had a buffalo and its young one. About a year before the filing of complaint he experienced difficulty in procuring fodder for his animals, therefore, he went to the accused/petitioners and requested them to keep and feed his buffalo and its young one for about 6 months whereafter he would take back the said cattle. Further, alleged that he entrusted these cattle to the petitioner in the presence of Hazoor Bakhsh and Ashfaq Ahmad P.Ws. who are also residents of Rahim Yar Khan City. After about 6 months when he went to Chak No. 100/NP to bring his cattle back he learnt that the petitioners had migrated to Vehari. He contacted them at Vehari and asked them to return his buffalo and its young one but they refused to do so in the presence of Hazoor Bakhsh P.W. Being aggrieved, therefore, he filed a private complaint in the Court of a Magistrate at Rahim Yar Khan on 10‑5‑1976. Learned Magistrate after examining the complainant and recording the statements of Hazoor Bakhsh and Ashfaq Ahmad P.Ws. during preliminary inquiry summoned the petitioners under section 406, P.P.C. as accused vide order, dated 28‑ 5‑ 1976. The petitioners did not appear in that Court and filed the present petition for quashment which was admitted to regular hearing by my learned brother Mazharul Haq, J., on 2‑ 11‑ 1976 and stayed the proceedings in the lower Court.
3. Notice issued to Muhammad Iqbal, complainant/respondent, bears a report of the process‑server that he lives in Saudi Arabia. In the circumstances, I have proceeded to hear this petition in his absence. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioners as well as for the State and also perused the record.
4. The story of the complainant that he had left his buffalo and its young one with the petitioners as he experienced difficulty to arrange fodder for his cattle in Rahim Yar Khan City is simply absurd. Nowadays; the animal food is available in the most modern cites like Lahore and; Karachi as well, therefore, it is not believable that due to non‑ availability of fodder the complainant was forced to take his cattle to Chak No. 100/NP and delivered to the petitioners for feeding them for six months. Again, no witness belonging to Chak No. 100/NP has been produced to support this story. There is no reliable evidence on record to show that the petitioners; ever lived in Chak No. 100/NP, District Rahim Yar Khan. It seems that the petitioners are residents of Vehari and in order to create jurisdiction of the Courts at Rahim Yar Khan to hear the complainant, the respondent has shown his residence in Chak No.100/NP at the time of commission of the so‑called offence. In the circumstances, I find that this private complaint is not based on genuine facts and has been filed with no other purpose but to harass the petitioners which constitutes abuse of process of Court. Consequently I accept this petition and quash the proceedings in the case titled 'Muhammad Iqbal v. Abdul Rauf and others' pending in the Court of Magistrate at Rahim Yar Khan.
M.Y.H./A‑30/L Proceedings quashed.
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