The accused was booked under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. A sessions court in a recent order acquitted a 38-year-old taxi driver from charges of deterring a public servant from discharging her duties, stating that his act amounted to defiance or disrespect at the most.
The accused was booked under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.
The complaint against him had claimed that he was stopped by a woman police personnel attached to the traffic branch of the railway police for driving in a no-entry zone. When she stopped him and asked for his licence and documents, he got down from the car and told her arrogantly that he will not provide the documents. When she again demanded that he hand over the licence, he hurled it at her and sped away, the complaint stated.
โThis entire evidence has absolutely nothing to show that such an act of the accused caused any obstruction to the informant while discharging her duties as a public servant nor the same can be said to be sufficient to deter her from continuing with her duty. Apparently, the informant continued with her duty all the time and there was absolutely no hindrance caused by the accused,โ the court said.
It added that the basic ingredient of Section 353, which is the use of assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging her duty, is absent. It said that while the accused was expected to comply with the demand to show his licence and vehicle documents, his denial does not amount to an offence under the section.
โThe entire act of the accused shows at the most his defiance or disrespect to the informant. But the said act cannot be taken to mean that he used any force to the informant or acted with intent to deter her from discharging the duties…,โ the court said.
The accused, Wasim Shaikh, has said that he was not at fault on the day of the incident. He had claimed that the FIR was lodged after he said that he would complain against the officer for stopping him without it being his fault.
The court said that this explanation cannot be said to be improbable as no action was taken against Shaikh for entering a no-entry zone.
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