Jharkhand High Court: In an application filed to quash the First Information Report (‘FIR’) registered under Sections 126(2), 127(2), 115(2), 117(2), 109, 103, and 161(1) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (‘BNS’) against Director in charge Bokaro Steel Plant and the Executive Director (P&A) Bokaro Steel in connection with the death of a protester, the Single Judge Bench of Ananda Sen, J., passed an interim order directing the respondents not to proceed with the investigation and further no coercive steps be taken against the petitioners.
Background
During a peaceful protest organized by a group of people, the CISF was called to disperse the crowd. The CISF personnel, while dispersing the crowd, had to actively engage themselves in removing them by force, which resulted in the death of one of the protesters. The allegations in the FIR stated that this action by the CISF was carried out on the instructions of the petitioners. . An FIR was filed against the petitioners under Sections 126(2), 127(2), 115(2), 117(2), 109, 103, and 161(1) of the BNS. The petitioners had filed this application to quash the FIR.
Contentions of the parties
The petitioners’ counsel argued that the area where the protest took place was a prohibited zone, and the Circle Officer was responsible for maintaining law and order there. They further submitted that the Circle Officer had already filed an FIR for the incident, which clearly stated that the protesters became unruly, leading to a lathi-charge and the unfortunate death. The counsel also contended that there was no evidence to suggest that the petitioners had given any instructions to murder or kill anyone.
The counsel for the State and the informant, after reviewing the FIR, stated that it did not show that the petitioners committed murder or were directly involved in the physical dispersal by force. Instead, it was clear that only an order to disperse the group had been given.
Court’s Order
Considering these submissions, the Court passed an interim order directing the respondents not to proceed with the investigation of the FIR under Sections 126(2), 127(2), 115(2), 117(2), 109, 103, 161(1) of the BNS. The Court ordered that no coercive steps would be taken against the petitioners and listed the matter for further hearing after 12 weeks.
[Birendera Kumar Tiwari v. State of Jharkhand, W.P.(Cr.) No. 332 of 2025, decided on 10-06-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the petitioner: Indrajit Sinha and Bibhash Sinha, Advocates
For the respondent: Nirupama, AC to Sr. SC-I
For the informant: J. Mazumdar, Advocate
Good