The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday quashed criminal charges against a TV journalist, who was booked for cheating and forgery, for allegedly revealing discrepancies in the process of issuing e-passes during the second wave of COVID-19 for the inter-state movement in 2021.
Justice Vivek Singh Thakur, in the order, said the petitioner did not commit any act with an intention to defraud, but for ‘reality check’ and verifying the working of system of online registration and generation of e-passes, regarding which it was claimed by State that e-passes would be generated after proper verification of documents uploaded with the online request.
Pointing out that the journalist brought a lapse in system to the notice of higher authorities, Mr. Thakur said, “...In given facts and circumstances it cannot be said an act done by the petitioner was with intent to defraud, therefore, it was not an act done ‘fraudulently’. The act by the petitioner was never done with intention of causing wrongful gain or wrongful loss to any person nor any such attempt was ever made by the petitioner and, therefore, in absence of such essential ingredients, as defined in Section 24 of IPC, act of the petitioner cannot be termed as an act done ‘dishonestly’.”
