The Delhi High Court has quashed four FIRs lodged in connection with a fire incident that occurred during the northeast violence and said that five separate FIRs cannot be registered for the very same incident as it is contrary to the laws laid down by the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad observed that perusal of the charge sheets filed in the respective FIRs show that they are more or less identical and the accused are also the same.
The Court clarified that if there is any material that has been found against the accused the same can be placed on record in FIR No.106/2020.
"In view of the said principles and precedents, save FIR No. 106/2020 registered on 01.03.2020 at Police Station Jaffrabad, FIR No. 107/2020, FIR No.112/2020, FIR No. 113/2020 and FIR No.132/2020 all registered at Police Station Jaffrabad and all proceedings emanating therefrom are hereby quashed and set aside," the court said.
In its 12-page order, the Court ruled that the law on the subject has been settled keeping in line with the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court of India. "There can be no second FIR and no fresh investigation in respect of the same cognizable offences," the court said.
"...the places which have been set on fire, looted are all in the same compound and are all enclosed in one boundary wall. There might be a discrepancy regarding the width of the passage within the same compound or the exact place where the fire was set but both sides agree that it is within one compound," the Court said.
The Court noted that one of the FIR the complainant, himself, has stated that the property is an ancestral property that has been sub-divided pursuant to a family arrangement.
The Court noted that the entire incident has occurred when the mob entered the compound and set fire at different places within the same compound, the same truck came to the spot to douse the fire.
"It, therefore, cannot be said that there are five separate incidents and, therefore, five separate FIRs cannot be registered for the very same incident as it is contrary to the laws laid down by the Supreme Court. It cannot be said that the incidents were separate or the offences are different, " the Court said.
The court was hearing various pleas filed by Atir, stating that five separate FIRs have been registered against him in relation to a similar incident. He contended that all the five FIRs are in respect of an incident of setting the house in a fire in Maujpur.
Advocate Tara Narula, appearing for the petitioner Atir, argued that FIR Nos.106/2020, 107/2020, 112/2020, 113/2020 have been filed by different members of the same family. She submitted that the fire brigade which extinguished the inferno was by the same truck. She further contended that the consecutive FIRs could not have been filed in respect of the same offence and it directly comes in the teeth of the principles, which states that more than one FIR cannot be registered for one offence.
( With inputs from ANI )
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