- (1.) This is a Petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing the F.I.R. No. 255/2012 dated 6.6.2012 registered at Police Station Kotwali, District-Barmer. The F.I.R. has been registered against the present petitioners for offences under Sections 384, 385 and 500 I.P.C.
(2.) It is contended that F.I.R. has been registered against the petitioner by Mewa Ram Jain, Local M.L.A., Barmer, who is a powerful politician. The said F.I.R. is misuse of the process of law, which was filed only to exert political influence on police machinery. The complainant himself is involved in number of irregularities and corruption cases and various F.I.Rs. have been registered against him in the past. It is further stated that the said F.I.R. has been filed with mala fide intention. The petitioner No. 1 has filed D.B. Civil Writ (PIL) Petition No. 9730/2011 (Mahaveer Jain v. State of Rajasthan & Ors.) before this Court wherein the complainant and his associates are impleaded as respondents. Further, petitioner No. 1 is Editor-cum-Publisher of daily News Paper "Maru Lehar" and he was instrumental in exposing number of corruption cases and in I some of those cases, respondent No. 3 is involved. Thus, out of vengeance and in order to escape from criminal liability and under political vendetta, the present F.I.R. has been lodged by the respondent No. 3. Reliance is placed on the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, 1992 AIR(SC) 604, to state that an F.I.R. registered due to mala fide should be quashed.
(3.) it is further contended that the allegations are false on the face of it. As per the F.I.R., the petitioners had demanded money and threatened that in case the said money was not delivered, he would publish the news item against the complainant. The news item stood already published in the daily news paper "Maru Lehar" on 4.6.2012. Thus, demanding any money after the publication of the said news item, does not arise. Moreover, the said news was carried out by various news papers and not by the news paper of the petitioner alone.;