Vishnu Vijayan v. State of Kerala and Others

# **`IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM`** ## **`PRESENT`** ``` THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BECHU KURIAN THOMAS TUESDAY, THE 9[TH] DAY OF JULY 2024 / 18TH ASHADHA, 1946 ``` ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` CRIME NO.452/2024 OF Kottiyam Police Station, Kollam ``` ``` PETITIONER: ``` ``` VISHNU VIJAYAN AGED 33 YEARS S/O.VIJAYAN PILLAI V.K, NAYANA BHAVAN, NEDUVANNOOR, AVANEESWARAM R S P O, KOLLAM -, PIN - 691508 BY ADVS. K.SIJU ANJANA KANNATH MARIYA JOSE ``` ## **`RESPONDENTS:`** |**`1`**|**`STATE OF KERALA`**| |---|---| ||**`REPRESENTED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,`**| ||**`HIGH COURT OF KERALA,`**| ||**`PIN - 682031`**| |**`2`**|**`THE STATION HOUSE OFFICER`**| ||**`KOTTIYAM POLICE STATION,`**| ||**`KOLLAM DISTRICT -,`**| ||**`PIN - 691589`**| |**`3`**|**`STATION HOUSE OFFICER`**| ||**`ERNAKULAM CENTRAL POLICE STATION,`**| ||**`KOCHI CITY, ERNAKULAM`**| ||**`*( ADDITIONAL RESPONDENT NO.3 IMPLEADED AS PER ORDER`**| ||**`DATED 09-07-2024 IN CRL.M.A.2/2024) *`**| ## **`OTHER PRESENT:`** ``` SRI. ASHI M.C ``` ``` THIS CRIMINAL MISC. CASE HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 09.07.2024, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING: ``` ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` 2 ``` ## BECHU KURIAN THOMAS, J. -------------------------------Crl.M.C. No. 3971 of 2024 --------------------------------Dated this the 9[th] day of July, 2024 ## ORDER Petitioner challenges the registration of Crime No.452/2024 of Kottiyam Police Station alleging offences punishable under sections 465, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. During the pendency of this petition under section 482 Cr.P.C, the aforesaid crime was transferred to Ernakulam Central Police Station and re-registered as Crime No.887/2024. 2. According to the FIR, the accused - a former District President of Kerala Students Union (KSU), Kollam, after obtaining admission for the five-year LLB course at NSS Law College, Kottiyam, for the period 2012 to 2017, had, without any relieving certificate or migration certificate, joined the OPJS University, Rajasthan for the five year LLB course and thereafter, using a forged certificate, enrolled himself with the Bar Council of Kerala as an Advocate with registration No. K-000084/2020, and is practicing as an Advocate without the necessary qualification and thereby committed the offences alleged. ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` 3 ``` 3. Smt.Anjana Kannath, the learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the petitioner has been practicing as a lawyer for the last four years at Kollam and that none of the ingredients of the offences alleged are made out. It was also submitted that the crime was registered on the basis of political animosity and that even the Bar Council of Kerala had verified the certificates and found that petitioner had undergone the LLB course as a regular student and there was nothing to doubt the veracity of the certificates produced. According to the petitioner, earlier, another complaint had been filed before the Commissioner of Police of Kollam City and after a preliminary enquiry it was realised that there was no truth in the allegations. Petitioner asserts that though he had joined the course of study in the NSS Law College, Kottiyam having been a successful candidate in the Kerala Law Entrance Examination, he subsequently discontinued his studies as he was suspended from the college due to his participation in strikes, and thereafter joined the OPJS University. Petitioner alleged that he had not committed any forgery and also that the documents submitted by him were all genuine. According to the learned Counsel, the crime was registered due to political rivalry and to ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` 4 ``` defame and destroy the political and professional career of the petitioner. 4. Sri.M.C.Ashi, the learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the investigation conducted so far revealed that the petitioner, after joining the LLB course at NSS Law College, Kottiyam for the course 2012-2017, had also joined the OPJS University in 2013 and two parallel regular courses of study are seen to have been undergone by him which itself smacks of illegality and irregularity and hence the proceedings ought not to be quashed. The learned Public Prosecutor further submitted that without submitting proper migration and transfer certificates from NSS Law College, Kottiyam, the course of study allegedly undergone by the petitioner at OPJS University cannot be said to be legal and therefore the investigation ought to be continued. The learned Public Prosecutor also referred to the statement filed by the investigating officer, wherein it is stated that petitioner had studied BA LLB course at the School of Law, OPJS University, Rajasthan during the years 2013 to 2018 and also that the said University had sent a letter to the Bar Council of Kerala informing that the provisional certificate issued to the accused is genuine. The Investigating Officer further mentions that a request has been sent to the OPJS University for ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` 5 ``` obtaining certified copies of the documents submitted by the accused for obtaining admission and further that the accused was admitted at the Kottiyam College on 11.09.2012 and he left on 31.01.2017 and the reasons for leaving the college is seen as course discontinued and the TC was issued on 06.02.2018. 5. I have considered the rival contentions. 6. The petitioner is alleged to have obtained a forged degree certificate and used it to enroll with the Bar Council of Kerala, and is presently practicing law. The FIR is registered alleging that the LLB certificate obtained by the petitioner as a forged document using which he enrolled as an Advocate. 7. However, OPJS University has, in Annexure A7 letter to the investigating officer and in Annexure A4(a) letter to the Bar Council of Kerala, affirmed that petitioner had undergone the course of study with them and the provisional degree certificate issued to the petitioner is genuine as he had undergone the course of study from 2013 to 2018. It was also affirmed that the mark-list issued by the University bearing the number mentioned therein is genuine as per the university records. 8. The offence alleged against the petitioner under sections 465, 468 and 471 are those relating to the alleged forged degree certificate obtained from OPJS University and produced before ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` 6 ``` the Bar Council of Kerala to obtain enrollment as an Advocate. The investigation conducted so far and the documents produced by the petitioner, as affirmed in the statement filed on behalf of the Investigating Officer, reveal that the documents produced before the Bar Council of Kerala are not forged but are genuine. The admission granted by OPJS University for the five year LLB course during the period 2013-2018 is not the subject matter of the crime. The University has not initiated any proceedings at any point in time to cancel the admission. Even if it is assumed that, without a proper transfer certificate or a migration certificate an admission was granted by OPJS University, that is a matter which falls within the realm of the University's prerogative. Till date, the OPJS University has not cancelled the admission granted to the petitioner. Even otherwise if it is assumed that the admission granted was not proper, still it was only an irregularity and that cannot lead to a conclusion that the documents issued by the University submitted by the petitioner for enrolling as an Advocate are forged or fake. 9. The word 'forgery' as defined in Section 463 IPC requires the making of a false document. A false document is made as per section 464 IPC when a person dishonestly or fraudulently makes a document with the intention of causing it ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` 7 ``` to be believed that such document was made by an authority whom he knows that it was not made, signed, sealed or executed. It is evident from the records collected by the Investigating Officer and also the materials produced by the petitioner that the documents produced by the petitioner for enrolling himself as an Advocate were those documents issued by the University themselves. Therefore there is no question of any offence of forgery arising in respect of the documents submitted for enrollment. 10. In the decision in State of Haryana v. Bhajanlal (1992 Suppl 1 SCC 335) the Supreme Court had observed that where the allegations in the FIR are so absurd and inherently improbable, on the basis of which no prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion, the proceedings can be quashed invoking the inherent powers. It has further been held that when the allegations are raised with an ulterior purpose, for _mala fide_ purposes, the inherent power can be invoked. 11. Concededly, the defacto complainant and the petitioner belonged to rival factions of student political groups. The investigation conducted so far does not reveal any forged document submitted by the petitioner to the Bar Council of Kerala for obtaining enrollment. The uncontroverted allegations ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` 8 ``` in the FIR do not make out any of the offences alleged. In such circumstances, this Court is of the view that the continuance of the proceedings initiated against the petitioner, who is a practicing Advocate, would cause great damage to his professional career. If the investigation is permitted to continue, it will affect his future and will cause irreparable prejudice. This Court is satisfied that this is a case where the exceptional power under section 482 Cr.P.C must be invoked to quash an FIR. 12. Hence all proceedings initiated against the petitioner in Crime No.452/2024 of Kottiyam Police Station which is now transferred and pending as Crime No.887/2024 of Ernakulam Central Police Station are quashed. Crl.M.C is allowed as above. ``` Sd/- ``` BECHU KURIAN THOMAS JUDGE AJM ``` CRL.MC NO. 3971 OF 2024 ``` ``` 9 ``` ## **`APPENDIX OF CRL.MC 3971/2024`** |**`PETITIONER ANNEXURES`**|**`PETITIONER ANNEXURES`**| |---|---| |**`Annexure A1`**|**`THE COPY OF FIR ALONG WITH FIS IN`**| ||**`CRIME NO.452/2024 OF KOTTIYAM POLICE`**| ||**`STATION,`**<br>**`KOLLAM`**<br>**`DISTRICT`**<br>**`DATED`**| ||**`19.4.2024`**| |**`Annexure A2`**|**`THE COPY OF PROVISIONAL ENROLLMENT`**| ||**`CERTIFICATE DATED 16.2.2020 ISSUED`**| ||**`FROM THE BAR COUNCIL OF KERALA`**| |**`Annexure A3`**|**`THE COPY OF FIR IN CRIME NO.887/2024`**| ||**`OF ERNAKULAM CENTRAL POLICE STATION`**| ||**`DATED 10.5.2024`**| |**`Annexure A4`**|**`THE COPY OF LETTER DATED 3.2.2020`**| ||**`ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY, BAR COUNCIL`**| ||**`OF KERALA TO THE CONTROLLER OF`**| ||**`EXAMINATIONS, OPJS UNIVERSITY`**| |**`Annexure A4(a)`**|**`THE COPY OF COMMUNICATION DATED`**| ||**`19.12.2020 BY THE REGISTRAR, OPJS`**| ||**`UNIVERSITY TO THE BAR COUNCIL OF`**| ||**`KERALA`**| |**`Annexure A5`**|**`THE COPY OF MARK CARD OF THE`**| ||**`PETITIONER FROM SEMESTER 1 TO SEMESTER`**| ||**`10 ISSUED FROM THE OPJS UNIVERSITY`**| |**`Annexure A6`**|**`THE COPY OF PROVISIONAL DEGREE`**| ||**`CERTIFICATE ISSUED TO THE PETITIONER`**| ||**`FROM THE OPJS UNIVERSITY DATED`**| ||**`9.1.2020`**| |**`Annexure A7`**|**`THE COPY OF LETTER DATED 30.11.2023`**| ||**`ISSUED BY THE REGISTRAR, OPJS`**| ||**`UNIVERSITY TO THE 2ND RESPONDENT`**|