Legal Headline: Plea of alibi and defense material cannot be considered under Section 482 CrPC/528 BNSS.

The applicant, Anurag Pandey, filed a petition under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. seeking the quashing of FIR No. 14/2019 registered at P.S. Ashoka Garden, Bhopal, for offences under Sections 354(d) (stalking), 294 (obscene acts), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC

The prosecution alleges that on January 6, 2019, the applicant abused the victim, threatened her life, and harassed her by stalking

Following an investigation, a charge-sheet was filed in the Court of XIV J.M.F.C., Bhopal

The applicant contends he is innocent, raising a plea of alibi supported by photographs suggesting he was performing in an orchestra in District Bareilly (U.P.) at the time of the incident

1. Whether a plea of alibi raised by the accused can be entertained by the High Court in a petition for quashing under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C.

2. Whether the FIR and consequential criminal proceedings against the applicant are liable to be quashed based on the material provided by the defense at this stage

Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. (correlating to Section 528 of the B.N.S.S.) regarding the inherent powers of the High Court to prevent abuse of the process of law

Rajendra Singh v. State of U.P. and another, which establishes that the burden of proving a plea of alibi rests on the accused and must be adjudicated during trial through evidence

Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd v. State of Maharashtra, which cautions that the power to quash criminal proceedings should be exercised sparingly, only in the "rarest of rare cases," and the court cannot embark upon an inquiry into the reliability of allegations if a prima facie case is made out

The court reasoned that while deciding a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C., it must focus on the material collected during the investigation rather than the defense evidence produced by the accused

The victim’s statements under Sections 161 and 164 of the Cr.P.C. prima facie corroborate the allegations of stalking and intimidation

Regarding the applicant's plea of alibi, the court held that such a defense is a matter of trial and cannot be adjudicated in a summary proceeding under Section 482, as the authenticity of evidence like photographs or CCTV footage must be proved to be "tamper-free" before a trial court

The court emphasized that it cannot "soft-pedal the course of justice" by intervening at a stage where a charge-sheet has already been filed and intent/knowledge of the crime remains a factual determination for the trial

Finding that the allegations in the FIR and the charge-sheet disclosed the commission of an offense, the High Court declined to interfere and dismissed the petition