Bombay High Court
Rajivrajan S/O Shri Gopalji And 3 ... vs State Of Maharashtra, Thr. Police ... on 8 June, 2021
Bench: V.M. Deshpande, Amit B. Borkar
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
: NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR.
CRIMINAL APPLICATION [APL] NO. 539 OF 2021
APPLICANTS : 1] Rajivrajan S/o Shri Gopalji
Aged about 36 years, Occu. Service,
2] Gopalji S/o Ramkisan,
Aged about 64 years, Occu. Nil,
3] Smt. Nirmaladevi W/o Shri Gopalji,
Aged about 58 years, Occu. Housewife,
Petitioners 1 to 3 all resident of Kapsaur, Post
Padri, Police Station, Padri
Tah. & Dist. Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh - 231 001
4] Smt. Kanchan Raj W/o Rajiv Ranjan,
Aged about 35 years, Occu. Physiotherapist,
C/o Dr. Shivraj 'Kusumkunj' B, Jalvihar Colony,
Ring Road, Post Jaitala, Nagpur - 400 036.
VERSUS
NON-APPLICANT : State of Maharashtra,
through Police Station Officer,
Police Station, Pratap Nagar, Nagpur.
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Mr. D. H. Vidhani, Advocate for applicant nos.1 to 3
Mr. M. D. Samel, Advocate for applicant no.4
Mr. S. M. GHodeswar, A.P.P. for the non-applicant/State
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CORAM : V. M. DESHPANDE and AMIT B. BORKAR, JJ.
DATE : JUNE 08, 2021.
ORAL JUDGMENT [Per V. M. Deshpande, J.]
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Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. Heard finally
by consent of the learned counsel for the parties.
2. This is an application under Section 482 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure jointly filed by applicant nos.1 to 3/accused and
applicant no.4/complainant for quashing of the First Information
Report, Final Report and the Regular Criminal Case arising out of it,
pending on the file of learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Court
No. 9, Nagpur.
3. Applicant no.4 herein Smt. Kanchan Raj is the wife of
applicant no.1, who is represented by learned counsel Mr. M.D.
Samel, whereas applicant nos.1 to 3 are the husband, father-in-law
and mother-in-law of applicant no.4 and they are represented by
learned counsel Mr. D. H. Vidhani. The non-applicant/State is
represented by learned Additional Public Prosecutor Mr. S. M.
Ghodeswar.
4. By this joint application, the applicants have prayed for
quashing of the first information report, final report and the regular
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criminal case. Though, this application is being listed for the first
time before the Court, looking to the nature of controversy and the
fact that the husband and wife have amicably settled their dispute, at
this stage alone the matter can be disposed of.
5. The marriage between applicant no.1 and applicant no.4
took place on 10.04.2014. Applicant no.4 lodged first information
report with Police Station, Pratap nagar, Nagpur against applicant
nos.1 to 3 in the year 2017, more specifically on 21.12.2017. Her
report was registered as First Information Report No. 497/2017 for
the offence punishable under Sections 498-A read with Section 34 of
the Indian Penal Code and under Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry
Prohibition Act. The Investigating Officer, after completion of the
investigation, filed final report vide Charge Sheet No. 43/2019 in the
Court of learned Magistrate. On filing of the same, a criminal case
came to be registered as Regular Criminal Case No. 1249/2019
(State of Maharashtra .vs. Rajiv Ranjan and two others) in the Court
of learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Court No.9, Nagpur for the
offences for which the charge-sheet was filed.
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6. Be that as it may. In the meanwhile, applicant no.1 filed
a petition under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, before the
Family Court at Nagpur. The said is registered as Petition No. A-
1375/2017 and was allotted to the file of learned Judge, Family
Court no.4, Nagpur. During pendency of said petition, applicant
nos.1 and applicant no.4 have agreed to settle their dispute and they
prepared a compromise petition, which they affirmed before the
Notary Public. The said compromise petition is the part and parcel of
this proceeding. In the said compromise petition at paragraph 'H' it
is stated that applicant no.1 has paid Rs.2,00,000/- by a Demand
Draft drawn on State Bank of India, in favour of applicant no.4 and
the said amount is credited in her bank account. It is also stated in
paragraph 'J' of the said compromise petition that the said
compromise petition will be filed before the learned Judge of the
Family Court, Nagpur after the parties approach to this Court by
filing a joint petition for quashing of the first information report.
7. Applicant no.4 - Smt. Kanchan Raj W/o Rajiv Rajan is
present in the office of Mr. M.D. Samel, Advocate, who is
representing her. This Court has enquired with her about the
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compromise and she did state that the dispute between her and
applicant no.1 is settled and she has received the amount of
Rs.2,00,000/-, which was agreed as the foremost condition for
dissolution of the marriage.
8. We have gone through the gist of the charge-sheet. The
allegations against applicant nos. 2 and 3 are most general in nature.
9. Since, the husband and wife have decided to part their
company by obtaining decree of divorce, in our view, it will be
travesty of the justice if this criminal prosecution is allowed to be
continued. Therefore, we are of the view that this is a fit case
wherein this Court should exercise the inherent jurisdiction for
quashing the first information report and the criminal case, which
will save the precious judicial time. Consequently, we pass the
following order :-
ORDER
1. The criminal application is allowed.
2. First Information Report No. 497/2017 registered
with Police Station, Pratap nagar, Nagpur on the basis of the
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report lodged by applicant no.4 - Smt. Kanchan Raj, together
with Charge-sheet No. 43/2019 and the Regular Criminal
Case No. 1249/2019 (State of Maharashtra .vs. Rajiv Ranjan
and two others), pending on the file of learned Judicial
Magistrate, First Class, Court No.9, Nagpur, are hereby
quashed and set aside.
3. The criminal application is disposed of.
JUDGE JUDGE
Diwale
