V.M.JAIN, J. - (1.) THIS is a petition under Section 482, CrPC, filed by the accused-petitioners, seeking quashment of the order dated 1.9.1998 passed by the Judicial Magistrate, ordering the summoning of the accused under Sections 323/506, IPC, and under Section 3 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the SC/ST Act), in the criminal complaint filed by Smt. Gurbachan Kaur, complainant (respondent No. 1) and also against the order dated 6.7.2000 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, dismissing the revision petition filed by the accused-petitioners against the said order dated 1.9.1998 passed by the Judicial Magistrate.
(2.) I have heard learned counsel for the petitioners in the present petition and have gone through the record carefully. Annexure P2 is a copy of the criminal complaint dated 18.7.1998 filed by Smt. Gurbachan Kaur against the accused-petitioners Parkash Kaur, etc. under Sections 323/504/506, IPC, and Section 3 of the SC/ST Act. In the said criminal complaint, it was alleged that the complainant belonged to Scheduled Caste and that on 19.7.1998, when she was present in her house along with her husband, all the accused came there and caused injuries to the complainant and her husband and had also threatened to kill them and also used derogatory language towards them. After filing the criminal complaint, Smt. Gurbachan Kaur, complainant, herself appeared in the witness box as CW1 and she also examined CW2, Sat Pal, and CW3, Gurbachan Singh (eye witnesses) in support of her case. Thereafter, after hearing the counsel for the complainant and perusing the allegations made in the criminal complaint and the preliminary evidence lead by the complainant, the learned Magistrate was of the opinion that there were sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused and, accordingly, he ordered summoning of all the accused to face trial under Sections 323/506, IPC, and Section 3 of the SC/ST Act vide order dated 1.9.1998. The said order passed by the Judicial Magistrate was upheld by the Additional Sessions Judge, vide order dated 6.7.2000.
(3.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioners firstly submitted before me that the learned Magistrate had no jurisdiction to entertain the criminal complaint. It was submitted that the case was triable by the Special Court and as such, only the Special Court could take cognizance and not the Judicial Magistrate. Reliance was placed on Devinder Singh Sarpanch and others v. State of Punjab, 1997(3) RCR(Crl.) 575 and Dara Singh @ Darbara Singh v. Tej Kaur, Criminal Misc. 18538-M of 1999 decided on 26.10.1999 by Hon'ble Mr. Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi (as his Lordship then was).;