The Patna High Court granted relief to a serving cabinet minister in the Bihar Government by quashing the order taking cognizance against him in a criminal case arising from an alleged road blockade and related incidents that occurred in 2017. The petition was filed by the minister, Santosh Manjhi, who is the Minor Water Resources Minister in the State and the son of a Union Minister and former Chief Minister, challenging a 2021 order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Gaya District Court. In that order, the magistrate had taken cognizance of an FIR registered at Bodh Gaya Police Station in 2017, naming the minister and several others as accused in connection with offences including rioting, unlawful assembly, disobedience to public servants, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, causing grievous hurt, mischief, intentional insult intended to provoke breach of peace, kidnapping and offences under the Bihar Police Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Manjhi argued before the High Court that he had been falsely implicated due to political rivalry and that the allegations against him, particularly that he had assaulted a police official, were unfounded. His counsel contended that the minister had merely addressed a gathering involved in a protest and that no direct allegation of assault was made against him in the FIR supporting the magistrate’s order. The State opposed the petition, asserting that the matter involved serious allegations and that cognizance by the trial court was justified.
In its decision, the High Court examined the contents of the FIR and the case record. The bench noted that there was no specific allegation against the minister asserting that he himself had assaulted any individual. It observed that the only clear allegation concerning him was that he addressed the gathering during the protest, which did not automatically implicate him in the alleged acts of violence or assaults described. On this basis, the court held that the order taking cognizance against Manjhi was not sustainable. The High Court found that the magistrate had erred in proceeding to take cognizance of the offences against him without establishing even prima facie that he was directly involved in the criminal acts alleged.
Consequently, the High Court allowed the criminal miscellaneous petition and quashed the portion of the magistrate’s order dated 12 February 2021 insofar as it pertained to Santosh Manjhi. The court’s direction effectively removes the minister from the list of accused in the ongoing proceedings arising out of the 2017 FIR, while the rest of the case continues against other named individuals. The order reflects judicial scrutiny of the basis for initiating criminal proceedings and reinforces that mere participation in a public gathering or addressing a crowd, without specific evidence of involvement in criminal acts, cannot constitute sufficient ground for cognizance of serious offences under criminal law.
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