Rajesh Bindal, J. - (1.) THE petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short 'the Code') for quashing of FIR No. 207 dated September 3, 2005 registered under Section 306 IPC at Police Station, Sector 31, Chandigarh.
(2.) BRIEFLY facts as stated in the petition are that the petitioner is a permanent commissioned lady Dental Officer of Air Force, who at the time of filing of the petition was serving as Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Specialist at the prestigious Air Force Institute of Dental Sciences, Bangalore. At the time of allege occurrence, petitioner was commanding 9 Air Force Dental Centre at Chandigarh. The FIR came to be recorded against the petitioner on account of suicide committed by Airman Sergeant Sreenivas Balan on September 3, 2005. The FIR was registered against the petitioner on the basis of statement made by his widow. The primary base of the FIR was two written notes recovered from the pocket of uniform worn by the deceased at the time of suicide. The petitioner has given brief account of facts preceding to suicide which according to her clearly establish that petitioner did not have any role to play in abetting the suicide by Airman Sergeant Sreenivas Balan. It is submitted that on August 29, 2005 the deceased without permission of the petitioner used the only ultrasonic scaler of the Dental Centre. As the machine was damaged due to mishandling, petitioner issued show cause notice to the deceased on August 31, 2005. Immediately on receipt of notice, the deceased sought an interview with Air Officer Commanding. It was mentioned in the request that matter will be disclosed to the Air Officer Commanding only. The interview was granted to the deceased. On September 3, 2005 on the date fixed for interview, the deceased reported to the Personal Assistant of the Air Officer Commanding at 12.15 hours. The deceased was called for interview at 13.15 hours. After hearing the deceased patiently for 7 -8 minutes, the Air Officer Commanding directed his Personal Assistant to call the petitioner as well. The deceased was directed to wait in the PA's office till the petitioner was also available for clarifications. The petitioner was informed of the order by the Air Officer Commanding. After waiting 10 -15 minutes in the office of PA, the deceased left his office on the pretext of going to toilet. Immediately on the arrival of the petitioner, the Air Officer Commanding called the petitioner as well as Airman Sergeant Sreenivas Balan in his office but he was not available. The Personal Assistant looked for him in the toilets and around the building but did not find him anywhere. Search party was deputed to look for him and it was only after two hours extensive search that the deceased was spotted hanging from a ladder behind the Dental Centre Building hidden from public view. After removal of the body, he was found to be dead. The Air Force authorities informed of the incident to the local police.
(3.) TWO written notes recovered from the uniform of the deceased were handed over to the police. As the incident had happened in the Air Force Campus and the suicide by a Jawan naturally was a serious matter, it got pointed attention of senior officers at the headquarter level and court of enquiry was constituted with following terms of reference: 1. To enquire into the circumstances under which above named SNCO died on 03 Sep 05. 2. To make brief account of circumstances of the incident. 3. To ascertain the following: (a) Date, time and place of unnatural death. (b) The nature of 'Duty' on which the person was engaged at the time of unnatural death. In case of leave, to being on record whether the deceased was traveling on LTC or not. (c) The cause of unnatural death. 4. Was the accident due to any wrongful act or negligence on the part of any one?;