HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD APPLICATION U/S 528 BNSS No. - 34702 of 2025 Court No. - 75 HON'BLE VIKAS BUDHWAR, J. 1. Heard Sri Brijesh Kumar Prajapati, learned counsel for the applicants and Sri K.K. Vishwakarma, learned AGA for the State. 2. This is an application filed under Section 528 of the B.N.S.S. for quashing the summoning order dated 23.07.2025 passed by learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Agra as well as entire criminal proceedings of Complaint Case No. 27141 of 2023 (Abhishek Sharma Vs. M/s Sahitya Bhawan Publication and others), Under Sections 420, 463, 468, 471, 120-B I.P.C. and Section 63, 65 of Copy Right Act, Police Station-Kotwali, District-Agra, pending in the Court of Learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Agra. 3. The case of the applicants is that a complaint was lodged by the opposite party no.2 against the applicants on 14.8.2023 under Section 63, read with Section 64 of Copyright Act, 1957 and Sections 120B, 420, 463, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C. with an allegation that the opposite party no.2 happened to be an Assistant Professor, since 2009 in the Computer Department of Sunbeam College For Women, Bhagwanpur, Lanka, Varanasi, and the applicant no.1 wherein happens to be Associate Professor to the said institution and the applicant no.1 along with the opposite party no.2 in the year 2016 had undertaken the activity of writing the book with the topic Fundamental of e- commerce, allegation is to the effect that the applicant no.1 herein along with the applicant no.2 and 3, who happened to be the partners of M/s Versus Counsel for Applicant(s) : Brijesh Kumar Prajapati, Mahesh Kumar, Maheshwari Prasad Srivastava, Surendra Kumar Singh Counsel for Opposite Party(s) : G.A. Dr. Amit Kumar And 2 Others .....Applicant(s) State Of U.P. Through Its Secretary Home, Government Of U.P. At Lucknow And Another .....Opposite Party(s) Sahitya Bhawan Publication violated the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 and also the penal provisions contained under IPC while getting the book published without either associating the opposite party no.2 or giving him the royalty or taking permission in that regard. Post recording of the statements under Section 200 Cr.P.C. of the opposite party no.2 and 202 Cr.P.C. of Ramesh Chandra Sharma, Rajesh Kumar Tiwari, the applicants came to be summoned on 23.07.2025 under Sections 63, 65 of the Copyright Act 1957 and Sections 420, 463, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC. 4. Learned counsel for the applicants has submitted that the summoning order cannot be sustained for the simple reason that the applicants at no point of time violated the impugned penal sections. He has further submitted that the applicant no.1 herein is the Author of the said book and the opposite party no. 2 only used to assist him and there was no such agreement entered into between the parties with relation to a bar or an embargo for not publishing the said book as obviously it is the applicant no.1 who is the whole sole, custodian and the owner of the proprietary rights of the said book including the copyrights. He has also submitted that the opposite party no. 2 intended to extract money from the applicants and on one occasion certain amount was transferred to him but it has become a habitual for the opposite party no. 2 to blackmail while lodging the criminal proceedings against the applicants. 5. Learned counsel for the applicants submits that on the basis of the tailor- made statements of the witnesses under Sections 200 and 202 Cr.P.C., the court below in a routine manner has summoned the applicant without recording any prima facie satisfaction about the attraction of the penal sections. He further submits that so far as the applicant nos.2 and 3, they are the publishers and they acted on the basis of the assurance by the applicant no.1 who owns the copyright of the said book. Learned counsel for the applicants, as per the instructions received from the client submits that the applicant shall be filing discharge application seeking discharge. 6. Learned AGA on the other hand submits that a bare perusal of the allegations contained in the complaint vis.a.vis the statements made under Sections 200 and 202 of the Cr.P.C. are not in contradiction or variation, rather they make the case triable. He however submits that the applicants have no objection to the fact that the applicants prefer a discharge NA528 No. 34702 of 2025 2 application. 7. Considering the submissions so made across the Bar and after perusing the record, and looking into the over all facts situation, stand taken by the applicants as well as the nature of the allegations, without entering into the merits, the application stands disposed of directing the applicants to submit a discharge application by 09.10.2025 On the receipt of the said motion, the court below shall decide the discharge application. 8. Till the disposal of discharge application, no coercive action be taken against the applicants with respect to the the summoning order dated 23.07.2025 passed by learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Agra as well as entire criminal proceedings of Complaint Case No. 27141 of 2023 (Abhishek Sharma Vs. M/s Sahitya Bhawan Publication and others), Under Section 420, 463, 468, 471, 120-B I.P.C. and Section 63, 65 of Copy Right Act, Police Station-Kotwali, District-Agra, pending in the Court of Learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Agra. 9. The protection accorded to the applicant is only available subject to compliance of terms and conditions and timeline as provided herein and in case of default, the order shall stand vacated without reference to the Bench. September 11, 2025 piyush NA528 No. 34702 of 2025 3 (Vikas Budhwar,J.) Digitally signed by :- PIYUSH KUMAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad