MADAN MOHAN PUNCHHI,J. - (1.) THIS is a petition under section 482 of the Code of criminal procedure preferred by the State of Punjab. It is aggrieved against the discharge orders passed by Shri R.L. Anand, Judicial Magistrate Ist class, Patiala, as left uninterfered with by Shri Hira Lal Garg, Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala. The discharged accused, respondents herein are Sudhir Mittal, an examinee for the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch) examination held by the Punjab Public Service Commission in November 1979, and Som Chand Vashisht, an invigilator in a relevant examination.
(2.) THE prosecution case, as culled out from the resume of facts noticed by both the Courts below is US Under :- Sudhir Mittal bearing Roll No. 3915 was in the examination hall to appear in Civil Law paper being conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission on 7-11-1979 between 2.15 p.m. and 5-15 p.m. As an examinee, he had been allotted the 11th seat in Row No. 28. The invigilator for that row was Saravjit Singh. The invigilator for the 8th row was Som Chand Vashisht respondent. The examination was being supervised by R.L. Kapur Devinder Kumar, a Clerk of the Commission, was present in the hall to assist the invigilators. The Secretary of the Commission, Shri S.R. Dass too, was present. When the time of examination was approaching towards close, Davinder Kumar approached Sudhir Mittal to collect his answer book. Shri Mittal was sitting in the last seat in the 28th row. He told Devinder Kumar that he shall hand over the answer bock only to the invigilator who had supplied him the answer book. The allegation is that, before band, Shri Mittal had occupied his seat in the 8th row on the pretext that it was lying vacant, the examinee having not come, and that row, as said before, was under the vigilance of Som Chand Vashisht. On that a course, he claimed to have received the answer book from Som Chand Vashisht and gave out that he would give it to him. The exchange of arguments attracted Shri S. R Dass, Secretary of the Commission. He intervened and assured Sudhir Mittal that his answer book would go to the proper quarters. It is than that Sudhir Mittal made over ]lis answer book to Saravjit Singh invigilator However, immediately thereafter he followed the invigilator and asked for the return of his answer book. They did not agree. Then he and Som Chand Vashisht again went to them. Soni Chand Vashist avowedly gave out that, since he had issued the answer took to the candidate, he alone was accountable and rather advised his that the candidate would feel satisfied by adopting such a course. Accordingly, the answer book was handed over to Som Chand Vashist. Meanwhile, Sudhir Mittal was trying to tag his answer book and proceeded towards the seat of the supervisor along with Som Chand Vashist. A short while there after, he handed over his answer book bearing his Roll No. 3915 and that answer book was marked as Exhibit W. The said answer book was suggested to be a forged one and smuggled in the examination hall from outside, since that was not in the bands of Sudhir Mittal, Besides that, the said copy did not bear the genuine signatures of the Secretary of the Commission or Smt. Santosh Chaudhari, a member thereof. Accordingly, the answer book was taken to the Secretary of the Commission. The said copy was not even tagged as it did not have any hole in it, The Secretary made an enquiry in that regard and, on the following day on 8-11-1999, sent his report Exhibit 'PC' to the police for registration of the case. There upon, the police investigated the case and sent its report to the Court under sections 465/468/471 read with sections 120/B, 10.9 and 114, Indian Penal Code.
(3.) SHRI R. L. Anand, the learned trial Magistrate, on a full discussion running in nine pages, came to observe as follows :- "It was the duty of the functionaries of the Commission to find out as to how the genuine and book of the candidate Sudhir Mittal was taken out of the Examination Hall and was replaced by the other answer book which is definitely not written by him. It appears from the facts and circumstances of the case that the accused have been raped in simply with a view to saving the others responsible for the replacement of answer book of the candidate Sudhir Mittal with the answer book Exhibit 'A' which is not in his hand. The possibility of replacing the answer book with a view to get him declared unsuccessful cannot be ruled out as no attempt was made by the Commission to get the alleged forged answer book evaluated from the examiner. For the reasons recorded above. I held that the charge against the accused is groundless and as such they are discharged." ;