Respondent Usman Shah filed a first information report with Police Station Taluka, Mirpurkhas on 29th July 1976 at 10-30 a.m. Which was registered under sections 380 and 457, P. P. C. It was alleged by hilt- that when he got up from sleep on the morning of 21st July 1976, he found the roof of his house having been broken and articles lying scattered in one of the rooms of the house. Upon verification he found property consis--ting of gold and silver ornaments, a watch and silken clothes, etc. Worth about Rs. 1,549 to have been stolen. He then sent Ali Qutab Shah his son to call Hussain Shah and Yasin Shah. Upon the arrival of the latter, it was found that there were footprints of seven persons out of which five were bare. The complainant party then tracked the prints which led up to the garden of one Pir Qalandar Bux Shah, where they found five trunks lying broken and contents having been removed. The prints could not be tracked further on account of rain. In the F.I.R. The said respondent further disclosed that his relatives the applicants Mahmood Shah, Ali Muzaffar Shah, Fazal Mohammad Shah and Ghulam Hussain Shah had a dispute with him over land and that they had been issuing threats to him to leave the land else they would have his theft committed by applicants Ayub, Morio, Shahdad and Ameer. On the basis of the aforesaid alleged background the respondent expressed his suspicion in the F. I. R. That his house was broken into and theft committed at the instance of his aforesaid relatives. For the delay in reporting the matter to the Police the respondent vaguely stated that he had been making enquiries on his own.
2. It appears that upon the investigation the Investigating agency found the allegations baseless and closed the case recommending ---B' summary.
3. Realising that no action against the applicants was taken by the Police, the respondent on 17th August 1976 filed a direct complaint under sections 457, 380, 120-13/411 and 144, P.P.C. Against the applicants in the Court of the Joint Civil Judge and F. C. M., Mirpurkhas. In this complaint the respondent adhered to the previous version of the case as disclosed in the F. I. R. But made improvement enhancing the value of the allegedly stolen property to Rs. 6,000 and also alleged that applicant Ayub upon being arrested by the Police had confessed to the crime. The learned Magistrate after recording the statements of the complainant and his witnesses passed the impugned order dated 26th August 1976 in which he expressed his opinion that the offence if any would fall under sections 451, 427 read with section 109, P. P. C. And issued bailable warrants against the applicants.
4. The applicants have challenged the order passed by the learned Magistrate and the proceedings of the complaint under section 561-A, Cr. P. C. To be an abuse of the process of the Court. In their petition the applicants contend that there is recorded enmity between parties on account of dispute over land. According to them respondent Usman Shah is a cousin of Pir Qalandar Bux Shah who claims to be the owner of 30 acres of land situated in Deh 108 Taluka Mirpurkhas in the vicinity of which is located the house in which he lives. It is the case of the applicants that the present complaint and the F. I. R. Registered earlier is the result of manipulation on the part of Pir Qalandar Bux Shah who has a dispute with applicant Ali Muzaffar Shaft and other applicants to give up the land allotted to Ail Muzaffar Shah as a sitting hari. In this connection the applicants have placed on record the judgment dated 21st July 1976, passed by the District Judge, Tharparkar in civil appeal No. 34 of 1971 filed by Pir Qalandar Bux Shah against applicant Pir AIL Muzaffar Shah. This judgment reveals that Pir Qalandar Bux Shah had filed a suit in the Court of Senior civil Judge, Mirpurkhas for declaration and injunction claiming agricultural land measuring 16 acres 32 ghuntas in Deh 108 Taluka Mirpurkhas which was Government land, to have been purchased by him Behnami in the name of Ali Muzaffar Shah. The suit was contested by the latter and was eventually dismissed by the learned Senior Civil Judge on 10 September 1974. Pir Qalandar bux Shah then preferred appeal against the judgment of the civil Court, which was also dismissed by the learned District Judge, Tharparkar on 21st July 1976. The last mentioned date is significant inasmuch as that is the date shown in the F. I. R. As the date of offence. The applicants have also placed on record the discharge order dated 11th April 1972, passed by the Joint Civil Judge and F. C. M., Mirpurkhas in a case under section 24, Cattle Trespass Act which was filed by Hussair Shah son of Ibrahim who cited as a witness in the F. I. R., and complainant in this case. The applicants Fazal Mohammad Shah and Ghulam Hussain Shah were among the accused persons in that case. Complainant Hussain Shah had also alleged that applicant Fazal Mohammad Shah had given him hatchet blows. The learned Magistrate after considering the evidence came to the conclusion that there was recorded enmity between parties and cases were being filed by them against each other. On this basis he disbelieved the evidence of the complainant and discharged the accused. The applicants have lastly placed on record the discharge order dated 30th March 1974 by the Joint Civil & F. C. M., Mirpurkhas, in a case under section 395, P.P.C. Filed by Pir Karam Shah against applicants Fazal Mohammad Shah, Ghulam Hussain Shah, Mahmood Shah and Ali Muzaffar Shah.
5. From the documents placed on record it is quite evident that there exists serious enmity between parties and there has been civil as well as criminal litigation prior to the complaint in dispute in this case. This fact is also clearly admitted by the respondent in his complaint. It is also evident that an adverse decision was given against a close relation of the respondent in the civil litigation on the alleged date of offence. The respondent in his F. I. R. Gave no plausible explanation for not reporting the matter to the police immediately even though he suspected his sworn enemies to be the culprits. He kept quiet for eight days upon his own showing before approaching the police. The F. I.
R. And the complaint do not disclose what measures he adopted for securing his property or forth bringing the culprits to book. In his complaint filed after the police investigation the respondent stated at para. 4 as under :---- "That the complainant has strong reasons to believe that his theft has been committed by his relatives. Accused Mahmood Shah, Ali Shah, Ali Muzaffar Shah, Fazal Mohammad Shah and Ghulam Hussain Shah through notorious thieves accused Ayub Khaskheli, Morio Khaskheli, Shahdad Brohi and Amin Thaim as the complainant has strained relations with them over land and they had threatened him before this incident of dire consequences in case the complainant would not migrate from the village."
6. It is argued by the learned counsel for the applicants that from the aforesaid circumstances it is clear that no Court will convict the applicant on mere suspicion and therefore the proceedings if allowed to continue would defeat the ends of justice. It was further contended that the proceedings are patently a device to cause harassment to the appli--cants which amounts to abuse of process of the Court. The learned counsel for the State also supports the present application and states that the proceedings are liable to be quashed.
7. On a careful consideration of the circumstances of this case and the arguments of the counsel, I have come to the conclusion that the complaint was filed for ulterior motives and as observed by their Lord--ships in M. S. Khawaja v. The State (PLD 1965 SC 287) reveals "a perversion of the purpose of the law such as to cause harassment to an innocent party". No useful purpose will be served in allowing the proceeding to continue on account of patently inadequate and un believable nature of the allegations. In Nag Nawaz v. Mohammad Afzal (1971 SCM R 698) it was observed by their Lordships of the Supreme Court that each case must be judged on its own special facts and circumstances. It was further observed that the High Court was competent to quash the criminal proceedings, if it was satisfied that a false complaint has been brought and the process of the Court was therefore being abused, not to advance the interests of justice but to subject the accused persons to unnecessary harassment. I am of the confirmed view that the present is a case of such a nature and calls for interference by this Court.
8. In the result I accept the prayer of the applicants and order quashment of the proceedings of the criminal Case No. 306/76, pending in the Court of Joint Civil Judge & F. C. M., Mirpurkhas as well as the order passed by the learned Magistrate issuing process against the applicants.