Civil matter is no licence to commit assault: Court

Bengaluru: The civil nature of an issue or civil proceedings pending between parties over the same is no “licence to commit assault”, the high court observed in a recent judgment.
Declining to quash proceedings against four accused persons, including two women, Justice M Nagaprasanna, however, directed the trial court at Krishnarajapete in Mandya district to dispose of the matter as expeditiously as possible, in light of the fact that the complaint was registered in 2019 and that one of the accused is a student.
Punith, his mother Prameela, uncle Sachitha and aunt Prabha, all residents of Bengaluru, were named as accused in the complaint filed by Raghavendra, a resident of Chandra Layout, while he was staying in his mother-in-law’s house at Krishnarajapete.
According to the complainant, the four accused barged into his mother-in-law’s house around 5pm on September 11, 2019 and assaulted him with weapons causing injuries. A chargesheet was filed for assault, intimidation and criminal trespass, etc. Challenging the same, the petitioners claimed the complainant had received Rs 10 lakh from them for the purpose of getting one of their family members a government job.
According to them, though they repeatedly sought refund of their money, the complainant turned out to be a cheat as he didn’t get their family member the promised job. They further claimed that when they sought to register a complaint before police at Chandra Layout, the complainant undertook to refund the money and handed over certain cheques and therefore, the matter was purely civil in nature.
Attacked wth knife, club
However, Justice Nagaprasanna, after perusing Raghavendra’s complaint, noted that the allegations are that the petitioners barged into the complainant’s house and assaulted him using a knife and wooden club. Pointing out that the summary of the chargesheet is in tune with the narration in the complaint, the judge said the wound certificate issued by the doctor indicates assault led to injury, though it was termed simple.
The judge further noted there is a prima facie case of house trespass against the petitioners and though the intent behind the incident (prima facie) is the transaction between the parties, it will have to be proved in a-full blown trial, in which the petitioners have to come out clean.