The Chief Justice of the High Court of Manipur on Tuesday quashed the FIR registered against Wangoi assembly constituency, BJP candidate Oinam Lukhoi, who was accused for alleged transportation of PLA cadres and offering support and shelter to them and their arms and ammunitions under section 212, 121, 121-A and 34 IPC; section 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and Section 25(I-C) of the Arms Act, 1959 at Mayang Imphal PS on 2009.
The HC judgment stated that the prosecution has no case worth its name against Lukhoi. The offences alleged against him are under Sections 19 and 39 of the Act of 1967 but none of the ingredients thereof are made out even prima facie. Except for the so-called self-confession, which has no evidentiary value, the prosecution has nothing to hold against him except the confession of the original co-accused. Section 30 of the Act of 1872 does not protect that confession in so far as Lukhoi is concerned and more significantly, the confession did not even result in any recoveries being made from him.
In effect, no evidence is available against him in the context of the alleged transportation of PLA cadres and offering support and shelter to them and their arms and ammunition, the court said. Given the legal requirements for making out offences under Sections 19 and 39 of the Act of 1967, it is manifested that there is no possibility of the prosecution establishing a case against the petitioner even if it goes to trial.
Further, it appears that the possibility of completing the trial is not foreseen in the near future as the government is yet to issue the necessary sanction to file a charge sheet, in terms of Section 45 of the Act of 1967. That being so, there is no need to subject him to a long-drawn legal process unnecessarily.
According to the FIR against him, he filed the criminal petition before the high court of Manipur to quash the proceedings and FIR registered at Mayang Imphal PS. Lukhoi on his petition pointed out that even though more than 11 years had passed since the alleged incident, no charge sheet had been filed till date and contended that continuation of the proceedings against him under the subject FIR is unsustainable in law. It is on these grounds that he sought quashing the FIR against him.
Mayang Imphal PS on August 15, 2009 registered the FIR against Oinam Lukhoi for transportation of PLA cadres and offering support and shelter to them and their arms and ammunitions under section 212, 121, 121-A and 34 IPC; section 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and Section 25(I-C) of the Arms Act, 1959.
According to a report from the Inspector General of Police submitted before the HC, it stated that the investigation of the case was complete and the final report was prepared, but for want of prosecution sanction by the state government, the charge sheet could not be filed till date. Such sanction was stated to have been requested from the government under letter dated 16.12.2020 but was, as yet, awaited. He further stated that a strong prima facie case had been made out against Lukhoi for offences under the afore stated provisions and it would be premature to conclude that there was no case against him and to quash the FIR against him.
The final report of the police stated that the allegation of Lukoi is that he was assisting the PLA by offering transportation to PLA cadres. Support therefore was drawn from his own confession. Therein, he is stated to have admitted that he was transporting incriminating articles and PLA cadres from one place to another and had also given support and shelter to the cadres, so as to get work from the different government departments after giving a percentage to the UGs, being a contractor. He is stated to have further revealed that he communicated the movement of the security forces to the cadres of the PLA. The draft final report records that his Gypsy vehicle was used in transporting UG cadres, arms and ammunition from one place to another.
However, the court, after perusal of the documents, status report and final report from the police stated that bald allegations were made against the petitioner that he regularly used to transport PLA cadres and their articles, arms and ammunitions; there is no support for the same as none of the other co-accused whose statements were referred to in the draft final report implicated him in any such activities. There is no evidence forthcoming of Lukhoi giving support or sheltering PLA cadres at any location, the court said.
Hence, the HC quashed the FIR No 55(8)2009 MI PS on the file of Mayang Imphal Police Station against O Lukhoi.
