- (1.) Shobhana Bhartia has come up in appeal as against the judgment and order passed by the High court of Judicature at Patna on 17.12.2012 in Criminal Miscellaneous No. 2951 of 2012, whereby High Court has refused to quash the First Information Report (FIR) bearing No. 445 of 2011 dated 18.11.2011 registered under Sections 420, 471 and 476 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short 'the IPC'). However, adjudication on merits of this case is not warranted as the State of Bihar has made the following averments in para 6 of its counter affidavit: "That it is further respectfully submitted the name Signature Not Verified of Searchlight Publishing House Limited originally incorporated on 9.7.1918 being an existing company has been changed in the name of Hindustan media Ventures Limited on 11.11.2008. The date of occurrence in the complaint petition by the informant has been shown during the year 2001 to 2011. The relevant fact in this context is that the Petitioner Shobhana Bhartia was not the Chairperson during the year 2001 to 2006. Shri K.K. Birla, now dead, was the Chairperson during the period. After coming into existence of Hindustan Media Ventures Limited in the year 2008, the petitioner was made non-executive Director of the company and took over the charge from the year 2009 and there is no direct allegation against her. Shashi Shekhar, Editor-in-Chief at New Delhi, the accused no.2 in the complaint petition has joined company on 4.9.2009. He is the Editor-in-Chief for various publications of the company and in-charge of overall editorial policies of the company. Anku Srivastava, Executive Editor at Patna, the accused no. 3 in the complaint petition has joined company on 6.3.2008 and heads of Editorial Department at Patna. Vinod Bandhu, Deputy Resident Editor at Bhagalpur, the accused no.4 in the complaint petition has joined company on 20.2.2010. he is presently associated as political editor at Patna. Amit Chopra, Printer and publisher at New Delhi, the accused no.5 in the complaint petition has joined company on 18.10.2011. He is the printer and publisher of various publication of Hindustan Media Ventures Limited including Hindustan published from various parts of the country. His office is at New Delhi." (emphasis added by us)
(2.) In view of the aforesaid, we feel that the stand of the State of Bihar is that the appellant-Shobhana Bhartia has nothing to do with the matter. As such, adjudication on merits for quashment of FIR at her instance is not warranted as she is not being treated as an accused by the State. In case any cause arises, it would be open to her to revive this appeal.
(3.) Accordingly, in view of the statement made in para 6 of the counter affidavit, the appeal stands disposed of.;