High Court quashes atrocity case against Sai Mandir Secretary Staff Reporter ; Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has quashed the criminal prosecution launched under Atrocities (Prevention) Act against Secretary of Sai Mandir by a shopkeeper while dubbing it as gross abuse of process of law. The registration of First Information Report (FIR) appeared to be due to a barricade posted before the shop within Sai Mandir premises the High Court noted while striking down the FIR. A division bench consisting of Justice Z A Haq and Justice Amit Borkar while allowing the application moved by Avinash Shegaonkar quashed the FIR No 45/2018 dated February 15 2018 registered by Dhantoli Police for the offence punishable under Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3(1)(r)(s) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. The FIR was registered against Shegaonkar by non-applicant shopkeeper Shivraj Bawankar accusing him of placing a barricade in front of his shop and hurling casteist abuse against him. The High Court on April 24 2018 by way of ad-interim relief had directed not to file chargesheet against the applicant. The prosecuting agency in its reply claimed sufficient material to prove involvement of the applicant in the offence alleged against him. The details of the incident narrated by the complainant and his mother are totally different the reply stated. The non-applicant in his reply alleged that the applicant had abused him several times and did not respect members of weaker section of the society. The High Court noted that the applicant himself had filed the complaint with Dhantoli Police about a threat given to him by the shopkeeper about implicating him in an atrocity case since he had barricaded the shop. Due to loss of business the complainant was disgruntled and hence the prosecution launched at his insistence is not legitimate the High Court observed while quashing the impugned FIR against Shegoankar. Adv Shreeganesh Abhyankar appeared for the applicant. APP S D Sirpurkar (State) Adv Sumit Bodalkar (complainant) represented non-applicants.

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