[2026:JHHC:21876 ] 1 Cr.M.P. No. 1402 of 2023 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI Cr.M.P. No. 1402 of 2023 Meena Bhalla, aged about 70 years, wife of Late Om Prakash Bhalla, resident of G-9/2, Platinum City, HMT Road, Opposite MID Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore North, Yeswanthpura, P.O.-Yeshwanthpur Bazar, P.S. V.V. Puram District- Bengaluru, State-Karnataka. ...... Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. Panna Lal Verman, son of Late Bachchan Prasad Verman, resident of Prabhat Colony, Chas, P.O. & P.S.- Chas, District-Bokaro. ….. Opposite Parties For the Petitioner : Mr. Anil Kr. Sinha, Adv. For the State : Mr. Manoj Kr. Mishra, Addl. PP For the O.P. No. 2 : Mr. Rahul Lamba , Adv. Mr. Kanu Priya , Adv. Mr. Anish Kamal , Adv. P R E S E N T HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY By the Court:- Heard the parties. 2. This criminal miscellaneous petition has been filed invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 of CrPC with the prayer for quashing and setting aside the entire criminal proceeding as well as the order dated 04.08.2022 passed by learned SDJM, Bokaro in connection with Complaint Case no. 107 of 2021 by which learned SDJM, Bokaro found prima facie case for the offence punishable under Sections 323, 341, 379, 34 of the IPC 3. The allegation against the petitioner is that though the petitioner is not the owner of the property but she has sold the property in which the complainant was a tenant and the younger brother of the husband of the petitioner was the landlord. It is stated that on 22.01.2021, the accused person of the case with the help of the administration, broke the lock of the two shops of the complainant of which, he was the tenant and has committed theft [2026:JHHC:21876 ] 2 Cr.M.P. No. 1402 of 2023 of new and old watches, caused loss to the furniture and also committed theft of about 4 KG of silver, 200g of gold and the same has been captured in the CCTV camera. Learned SDJM, Bokaro on the basis of the complaint, statement of the complainant on Solemn Affirmation and the statement of the inquiry witnesses found prima facie case for the offence punishable under sections 323, 341, 379 and 34 of IPC. 4. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the allegations against the petitioner are vague and nowhere it has been mentioned that the petitioner was present at place of occurrence nor it has been specifically mentioned that the petitioner was seen in the CCTV footage and there is no allegation against the petitioner of having caused hurt to anyone or to wrongfully restraining anyone and admittedly the complainant was not present at the place of occurrence at the time of the alleged occurrence. 5. So far as the offence punishable under 379 of IPC is concerned, it is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that it is the admitted case of the complainant that with the help of administration, the occurrence of theft took place. It is next submitted that it is highly improbable that the District Administration will commit theft of any property. Drawing attention of the Court to the Annexure 5 of the brief, which is the copy of the letter issued by learned SDM, Bokaro to the Executive Magistrate Bokaro, the learned counsel for the petitioner submits that therein the Executive Magistrate was directed to get the shops vacated and to make a inventory list of the articles found in the said shops. It is next submitted that since the petitioner has admittedly sold the shop to the purchasers Devprakash Gupta, Omprakash Gupta and Suman Kumar, there is no rhyme and reason why the petitioner will remain present for taking delivery of the vacant possession and the petitioner was not even a party to the Execution Case No. 06 of 2019 rather Omprakash Gupta and others were parties to this case. [2026:JHHC:21876 ] 3 Cr.M.P. No. 1402 of 2023 6. It is next submitted that reading between lines, makes it abundantly clear that this case has been instituted for the purpose of wrecking vengeance and to give the cloak of a criminal case to a purely civil dispute hence, it is submitted that the prayer as made in this criminal miscellaneous petition be allowed. 7. Learned Addl. PP and learned counsel for the Opp. Party no. 2 on the other hand vehemently oppose the prayer of the petitioner and submits that if the allegations made against the petitioner are considered to be true, then all the offenses in respect of which prima facie has been found by learned SDJM, Bokaro are in fact been made out hence, it is submitted that this Criminal Miscellaneous Petition being without any merit, be dismissed. 8. Having heard the submissions made at the Bar and after going through materials available in the record, it is pertinent to mention here that it is the admitted case of the complainant that the petitioner has sold the property to Om Prakash Gupta and others in the year 2016 and the petitioner is a 70 years old lady residing at Bengaluru and there is Execution Case No. 06 of 2019 wherein learned SDM, Bokaro directed the Executive Magistrate, Bokaro to get the shop vacated and hand over its vacant possession to Om Prakash Gupta and others. 9. Further, the complainant was not present at the place of occurrence at the time of the alleged occurrence and there is absolutely no allegation against the petitioner of either causing any hurt to anyone or wrongfully restraining anyone. So, even if the entire allegations made against the petitioner are considered to be true in their entirety still the offence punishable under Sections 341 and 323 of IPC is not made out against the petitioner. 10. So far as the offence punishable under Section 379 of IPC is concerned, there is no specific allegation that the petitioner was present at the place of occurrence. All that has been said is that all the accused persons committed the offence and there is no specific allegation that in the CCTV footage the petitioner was seen. [2026:JHHC:21876 ] 4 Cr.M.P. No. 1402 of 2023 11. Under such circumstances, it is not difficult to fathom that the petitioner has been implicated in this case only for the purpose of wreaking vengeance and even if the entire allegations made against the petitioner are considered to be true in their entirety still none of the offenses in respect of which prima facie case was found out by learned Magistrate is in fact been made out. Thus, this Court is of the considered view that continuation of this criminal proceeding against the petitioner will amount to abuse of process of law. Therefore, this is a fit case where the entire criminal proceeding as well as the order dated 04.08.2022 passed by learned SDJM, Bokaro in connection with Complaint Case no. 107 of 2021 be quashed and set aside. 12. Accordingly, the entire criminal proceeding as well as the order dated 04.08.2022 passed by learned SDJM, Bokaro in connection with Complaint Case no. 107 of 2021, is quashed and set aside. 13. In the result, this Criminal Miscellaneous Petition is allowed. (Anil Kumar Choudhary, J.) High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi Dated, the 22nd July,2026 Smita /AFR Uploaded on 29.07.2026