Gopal Prasad Shastri & Ors. vs State (Nct Of Delhi) & Anr.
2012 Latest Caselaw 6660 Del

*               IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
%                             W.P. (Crl.) No. 133 of 2010
+                                    Date of Decision: 21st November, 2012

#       Gopal Prasad Shastri & Ors.                    ....Petitioners
!                           Through: Mr. Ramesh Gupta, Sr. Advocate
                                     with Mr. Sumit Arora, Advocate

                                   Versus

$       State (NCT of Delhi) & Anr.                   ...Respondents
!                          Through: Mr. Saleem Ahmed, ASC with
                                    Ms. Charu Dalal, Advocate. ACP
                                    Mahender Singh , P.S. R.K. Puram,
                                    Mr. S.N. Bharadwaj, Advocate for
                                    R-2

       CORAM:
*      HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE P.K.BHASIN

                                   JUDGMENT

The petitioners, by way of the present petition, sought quashing of the FIR no. 497/2009 dated 11.11. 2008 registered at R.K. Puram Police Station against them at the instance of respondent no. 2 herein for the commission of the offences under Sections 406/420/506 of the Indian penal Code and Section 3(1)(x) of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the respondent no. 2 complainant was appointed as a driver in Lal Bahadur Shastri Sr. Sec.

School, Sec- 3, R.K. Puram in January, 2002. The allegations made against the accused persons, who are the office bearers of the School, were that they had been giving much less salary to the complainant but had been taking his signatures in the register for the higher amount. When the complainant demanded his full dues he was not paid and that led to the filing of a criminal complaint in Court and registration of the FIR against the petitioners at the instance of respondent no. 2.

3. Being aggrieved by the registration of the FIR the petitioners invoked the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C by filing the present petition praying for quashing of the FIR. This Court had initially stayed the operation of the order of the Magistrate directing registration of FIR under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C but subsequently had allowed the investigation to go on. During the pendency of this petition this Court vide its order dated 01.09.2010 suggested the parties to try and settle the matter by way of payment of lump sum compensation to the complainant. In the meanwhile the police filed charge-sheet also in Court but only against petitioner no. 4 herein and so learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners did not press the present petition qua petitioner nos. 1-3.

5. Thereafter the parties amicably resolved their disputes and the complainant appeared in Court with his counsel and he expressed his desire not to pursue the prosecution of the accused anymore as he had got an amount of eight lakhs of rupees in terms of the settlement arrived at

between him and the petitioners at the Mediation Centre at Karkardooma Courts on 10th June, 2011.

6. The Additional Standing Counsel for the State, however, opposed quashing of the FIR and the charge-sheet on the ground that the offences in question were not purely personal in nature and were against the Society.

7. However, taking into consideration the fact that this Court only had suggested the parties to settle the disputes and their having done that FIR no. 497/2009 dated 11.11. 2008 lodged at R.K. Puram Police Station under Sections 406/420/506 of the Indian penal Code and Section 3(1)(x) of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the charge-sheet filed in Court in respect of this FIR deserve to be quashed and are quashed hereby.

P.K. BHASIN

NOVEMBER 21, 2012