Bombay High Court
Girja W/O Vijay Ambhore And 2 ... vs State Of Maharashtra Thr. Pso Ps ... on 18 January, 2021
Bench: Z.A. Haq, Amit B. Borkar
1 J-APL-37.21.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR
CRIMINAL APPLICATION (APL) NO.37 OF 2021
1. Sau. Girja W/o. Vijay Ambhore,
Aged 35 years, Occ. Housework,
(Informant)
2. Maroti S/o. Suresh Shevarkar,
Aged about 40 years, Occ. Labour,
3. Rahul S/o. Hanuman Shevarkar,
Aged about 34 years, Occ. Labour
All R/o. Rajendra Nagar, Akot,
Tah.Akot,Dist.Akola. .APPLICANTS
. . . . VERSUS . . . .
State of Maharashtra through
Police Station Akot (City),
Dist. Akola. . . . . NON-APPLICANT
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Shri G.N. Shinde, Advocate for applicants.
Shri S. D. Sirpurkar, Additional Public Prosecutor for Non-
applicant - State.
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CORAM: Z.A. HAQ & AMIT B. BORKAR, JJ.
DATED : 18/01/2021.
ORAL JUDGMENT : (PER AMIT B. BORKAR, J.)
1. Heard.
2. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. Heard by
consent of the learned Advocate for the applicants and the learned
Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the respective parties.
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3. This is joint application filed by the Victim and the
Accused. This is an application under Section 482 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure challenging First Information Report
No.291/2020 alongwith Charge-sheet No.71/2021 for offences
punishable under Sections 354 and 324 read with Section 34 of
the the Indian Penal Code read with Sections 7 and 8 of the
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short
"POCSO Act").
4. The First Information Report came to be registered
against the applicant nos.2 and 3 with the accusation that the
applicants touched daughter of the applicant no.1, aged about 11
years with bad intention. It is also alleged that the applicant no.3
assaulted the informant with iron rod.
5. The applicants are residing in the same locality and
have amicably settled their dispute. It is stated in the application,
which is sworn by the informant that the informant was in
confused state of mind after quarrel with the applicant nos.1
and 2. The First Information Report came to be registered against
the applicant nos.2 and 3 in heat of anger and confused state of
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mind. It is stated that they do not wish to continue with the
criminal proceedings on the basis of registration of First
Information Report no.291/2020. The applicants have, therefore,
filed present application for quashing of registration of First
Information Report and consequent charge-sheet.
6. We have carefully considered the contents of the
First Information Report. Though, the offence under Sections 7
and 8 of the POCSO Act has been registered against the applicant
nos.2 and 3, it appears that the allegations in the First Information
Report are vague in nature. It appears that the applicants are
residing in the same locality. They have peacefully and amicably
settled their dispute. In view of the settlement of dispute, there
are bleak chances of conviction of the applicant nos.2 and 3.
Therefore, it is not advisable to continue with the proceedings
before the Special Judge, Akot, as the Criminal Courts are already
overburdened with the work. If the present First Information
Report and the charge-sheet is quashed, the time of the Court,
which is saved can be utilised for some other fruitful litigation. We
are, therefore, satisfied that the continuance of the prosecution
would amount to abuse of process of Court. We, therefore, pass
the following order:
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ORDER
Rule is made absolute in terms of prayer clause (A).
Prayer clause A reads as under:
"A. Quash and set aside the First Information Report
vide Crime No.0291/2020, and Charge-sheet
no.71/2020 dated 25.08.2020 registered by Non-
applicant - Police Station Akot (City), Dist. Akla for the
offence punishable under Sections 354 and 324 read
with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections
7 and 8 of the Prevention of Children Sexual Offences
Act (POCSO) (Annexure-1 and 2) and proceedings
pending before the learned Special POCSO Court, Akot
bearing Spl.Case Child. Prot.Act No.26/2020".
JUDGE JUDGE
Ambulkar
