Chennai: The Madras high court has quashed all further proceedings in a criminal case against former DMK minister K.N.Nehru, pending before the special court for trial of criminal cases related to elected Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, Chennai.
Allowing the petition filed by Nehru, Justice N.Anand Venkatesh quashed the proceedings in a case registered against Nehru for allegedly assaulting or using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty, during a protest against demonetization at Tiruchirappalli in November 2016.
According to Nehru, the prosecution case was that on November 28, 2016, the petitioner and other accused were organizing a protest near the Passport office at Tiruchirappalli against the decision of the Union government to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The petitioner and other accused refused to disperse and leave despite being told by the police that they had no prior permission from the government and the police to conduct a protest and procession. The inspector of police, Gandhi market police station, Tiruchirappalli, and his party consisting of 9 other policemen were pushed as the petitioner and the other accused continued with their protest. The judicial magistrate, Tiruchirappalli, took cognizance of the charge sheet against the petitioner on November 8, 2017. After the formation of the special court, the case stood transferred to it and the petitioner and others appeared before the special court on November 12, 2018, he added.
When the present petition came up for hearing on Thursday, senior counsel N.R.Elango, appearing for Nehru, citing a judgment of the Supreme Court, submitted that in this case, the complainant and the investigation officer is the same person.
Therefore, the entire investigation was vitiated. Hence, the charge sheet has to be quashed, Elango added.
Concurring with the submission of Elango, the judge quashed the proceedings in the case pending before the special court.
