Bombay High Court

Joseph B Braganza And anrversusState of Goa Through Chief Secretary and 6 others

Disposal: Dismissed
Bench: VALMIKI MENEZES AMIT S JAMSANDEKAR

Holding

The petition is dismissed and leave to withdraw and re‑file on the same grounds is denied.

Summary

The petitioners sought permission to withdraw their criminal writ petition and to file a fresh petition on the same subject, along with a stay of all pending proceedings before the High Court until a Section 340 Criminal Procedure Code application before the JMFC, Mapusa, is concluded. The court examined the reliefs and held that it could not stay the petitioners' own pending proceedings, which are independent and require their appearance. It noted that the Section 340 application is scheduled for hearing on 23.03.2026. Consequently, the court dismissed the petition as untenable and refused leave to re‑file on the same grounds, disposing the petition on merits.

Issues considered

Whether the High Court can stay pending proceedings of the petitioners before its benches pending the outcome of a Section 340 CrPC application.
Whether leave can be granted to withdraw the petition and re‑file a fresh petition on the same grounds.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 340

Subjects

Section 340 CrPC
stay of proceedings
withdrawal of petition
high court
criminal writ petition
dismissal

Judgment

2026:BHC-GOA:522-DB
                                             7 WPCR 20 2026

                Suzana

                         IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY AT GOA
                           CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.20 OF 2026

           JOSEPH B BRAGANZA AND ANR                                 ... PETITIONERS
             Versus
           STATE OF GOA THROUGH CHIEF
           SECRETARY AND 6 OTHERS                                    ... RESPONDENTS


           Mr. Vedraj Toraskar, Advocate for Petitioner No.2.

           Mr. Shailendra G. Bhobe, Public Prosecutor for Respondents
           No.1 and 5.

           Mr. Devidas J. Pangam, Advocate General with Ms. Maria
           Simone J. Correia, Additional Government Advocate for the
           Respondent State.


                                CORAM:- VALMIKI MENEZES &
                                        AMIT S. JAMSANDEKAR, JJ.
                                DATED :- 18th March, 2026

           ORAL ORDER:


           1.     Registry to waive office objections and register the matter.


           2.       The Petitioners have, today, filed an application requesting for
           grant of permission to withdraw this Petition with leave to file a fresh
           Petition on similar subject matter.            The application is under the
           signature of the two Petitioners. The Petitioners are not present today.


           3.       The reliefs sought in the Petition is for conducting an enquiry

                                                Page 1 of 3
                                              18th March, 2026
                                7 WPCR 20 2026


into a pending application under Section 340 Cr.P.C before the JMFC,
Mapusa. In addition, the Petitioner has sought various other reliefs,
which include seeking stay of all proceedings of the Petitioners
pending before the Single Bench and before any Single Judge or
before Division Bench of this Court, until the final conclusion of the
application under 340 Cr.P.C pending before the Magistrate; further
direction is sought to the said Magistrate to complete the proceedings
under Section 340 Cr.P.C in a time-bound fashion and during such
proceedings, to exempt the Petitioners from appearing before the
Magistrate.


4.    On going through the reliefs sought in the Petition, the same are
absolutely untenable. There would be no question of this Court giving
any directions to stay the Petitioners' pending proceedings, which we
believe are at least 5, filed before the Division Bench and before the
Single Bench of this Court, till the disposal of the application under
Section 340 Cr.PC. The said applications are standalone proceedings,
and in such proceedings, it would be incumbent for the Petitioner to
appear and, if called upon, to depose in the matter. We are informed
that the application is listed on 23.03.2026 before the concerned
Magistrate for arguments.


5.     In this view of the matter, the present Petition is dismissed.
There is no question of granting leave to the Petitioners to refile this
Petition on the very same grounds which are mentioned therein, since

                                   Page 2 of 3
                                 18th March, 2026
                                                     7 WPCR 20 2026


                   such grounds are otherwise not available to the Petitioners.
                          The Petition stands disposed of on merits.



                     AMIT S. JAMSANDEKAR, J.                    VALMIKI MENEZES, J.




Signed by: MARIA SUZANA REBELLO
Designation: Personal Assistant
                                                        Page 3 of 3
Date: 18/03/2026 16:37:29
                                                      18th March, 2026

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