Allahabad High Court
Atul Chaudhary vs State Of U.P, Thru. Prin. Secy. ... on 13 February, 2023
Bench: Shree Prakash Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 27
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 1373 of 2023
Applicant :- Atul Chaudhary
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P, Thru. Prin. Secy. Deptt. Of Home, U.P. Civil Sectt. Lko. And Another
Counsel for Applicant :- Ranjeet Pratap Singh
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Shree Prakash Singh,J.
Sri Sanjeev Kumar Dwivedi,Advocate has put in appearance by filing Vakalatnama on behalf of the opposite party no. 2 and the same is taken on record.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Sushil Kumar Pandey, learned A.G.A. for the State, Sri Sanjeev Kumar Dwivedi, learned counsel for the opposite party no. 2 and perused the record.
By means of the instant application, the applicant has prayed for quashing/setting aside the entire proceedings of criminal case no. 493 of 2022, pending in the court of Civil Judge, Senior Division/F.T.C.-II, Pratapgarh, initiated in pursuance of the impugned chargesheet dated 22-12-2019 as well as impugned summoning/cognizance order dated 29-04-2022 passed by the Civil Judge(Senior Division)/F.T.C.-Second, Pratapgarh, arising of Case Crime No. 127/2019, under section 376 I.P.C.,. Police Station-Ashpur Devsara, District-Pratapgarh.
Learned counsel appearing for the applicant submits that the applicant is innocent and has falsely been implicated in the instant case. He further added that due to some misunderstanding the instant FIR was lodged and thereafter the parties sat together and they have settled their dispute and that too has been reduced in writing as a compromise deed dated 23.12.2022. He next submits that the present applicant and opposite party no. 2 are living with each other as husband and wife and due to certain enmity the impugned F.I.R. was lodged. He next submits that there is a child from the wedlock of the applicant and opposite party no. 2, Adding his arguments, he submits that now the parties have put their all disputes at rest by way of executing compromise deed and thus further criminal proceedings against the present applicant would be a futile exercise and amount to harassment of the applicants.
Adding his arguments, he also submits that this Hon'ble Court vide order dated 10.01.2023 has referred the matter for compromise verification in Application U/S 482 Cr.P.C. No. 111 of 2023 and in compliance of the aforesaid order, both the parties have appeared before the court below and the compromise deed dated 23.12.2022 has been verified in presence of all concerned parties and the order of verification was passed on 18.01.2023 by the learned Civil Judge, Senior Division/F.T.C., Second-Pratapgarh. He next added that now the matter has been compromised between the parties, and as such the proceedings of Criminal Case No. 493 of 2022(State of U.P. versus Atul Chaudhary) arising out of Case Crime No. 127 of 2019, under Section 376 IPC, Police Station-Ashpur Devsara, District -Pratapgarh may be quashed.
In support of his contentions, he has placed reliance on a judgment rendered in Vishwas Bhandari v. State of Punjab and another reported in (2021) 2 Supreme Court Cases 605, Criminal Appeal No.105 of 2021, dated 03.02.2021 and has placed reliance on paragraphs 9 and 10 and the same are extracted hereunder:-
"9. We find that the evidence of the prosecutrix and the complainant before the Court shows that there is no allegation whatsoever against the appellant. The main allegation was against Vikram Roop Rai but the prosecutrix married him on 4.8.2013 and had given birth to two children from that wedlock. In the absence of any allegation against the appellant, we find that the continuation of proceedings against him is nothing but an abuse of process of law.
10. Since there is no evidence against the appellant, the proceedings initiated against him on the basis of FIR would be untenable. The High Court was, thus, not justified in dismissing the petition against the appellant."
Referring the aforesaid, he submits that the case of the present applicant is squarely covered with the ratio of the Judgment aforesaid.
On the other hand, learned counsel for the opposite party no. 2 has also supported the version of the applicant and submits that the parties have entered into compromise deed and now there is no dispute in between the parties and thus the criminal proceeding against the applicant may be dropped.
On the other hand, learned AGA appearing for the State has no objection to the contentions aforesaid.
Considering the aforesaid submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, I find that compromise has been entered into between the parties on 10.10.2022 and said compromise has been verified on 02.01.2023 and, now, as per the statement of learned counsel for the parties, they do not want to press the aforementioned State versus Ram Lakhan, arising out of aforementioned Case Crime No.64 of 2020.
In view of the above, as the applicant and opposite party no. 2 have entered into compromise on 10.10.2022 and no grievance remains to be agitated and as such, further criminal proceedings in the aforementioned criminal case are liable to be set aside in view of the Judgements of the Apex Court rendered in B.S. Joshi and others Vs. State of Haryana and another (2003)4 SCC 675; Nikhil Merchant Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation[2008)9 SCC 677]; Manoj Sharma Vs. State and others ( 2008) 16 SCC 1; Gian Singh Vs. State of Punjab (2012) 10 SCC 303; and Narindra Singh and others Vs. State of Punjab ( 2014) 6 SCC 466.
Resultantly, proceedings of Criminal Case No. 493 of 2022(State of U.P. versus Atul Chaudhary) arising out of Case Crime No. 127 of 2019, under Section 376 IPC, Police Station-Ashpur Devsara, District -Pratapgarh. are hereby quashed.
The compromise deed shall be part of this order.
Consequences to be followed.
The application is allowed accordingly.
Order Date :- 13.2.2023/AKS
