Rahul Deora & Anr. vs State & Anr.
2016 Latest Caselaw 1811 Del

*   IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+   CRL.M.C. 1247/2015 & Crl.M.A. No. 4581/2015
                                  Date of Decision : March 08th, 2016
     RAHUL DEORA & ANR.                                  ..... Petitioners
                 Through                Mr.K.K. Sharma, Adv.

                         versus

    STATE & ANR.                                           ..... Respondents
                         Through        Mr.M.P. Singh, APP for the state with
                                        SI Satish Bhati, PS Kalkaji.
                                        Ms.Ritu Agarwal, Respondent No.2
                                        in person.
           CORAM:
           HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE P.S.TEJI

    P.S.TEJI, J.

1. The present petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been filed

by the petitioners, namely, Rahul Deora and Archana Deora for

quashing of FIR No.121/2012 dated 26.04.2012, under Sections

498A/406/34 IPC registered at Police Station Kalkaji on the basis of

the compromise deed arrived at between Vikas Deora (husband of

respondent no.2) and respondent No.2, namely, Smt. Ritu Agarwal on

19.11.2013.

2. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor for respondent-State

submitted that the respondent No.2, present in the Court has been

identified to be the complainant/first-informant of the FIR in question

by her counsel.

3. The factual matrix of the present case is that the marriage

between Vikas Deora and the respondent no.2 was solemnized on

24.02.2008 as per Hindu rites and ceremonies. From the very

inception of the marriage, the husband of the complainant and other

in-laws were not happy with the dowry articles and gave cruel

treatment to the complainant. The mother-in-law i.e. petitioner no.2 of

the complainant hatched a criminal conspiracy with others and

retained all the gold ornaments and istridhan of the complainant. The

petitioner no.1 started manhandling the complainant before her

husband. On 10.05.2008, petitioners and the husband of the

complainant along with the complainant came to the parental home of

the complainant and repeated their unlawful demands of more cash

and one big luxury car and left the complainant there.

The respondent no.2/complainant filed a complaint before the

CAW Cell, Nanakpura against the petitioners which resulted into the

registration of the FIR in question. The police filed the challan under

Section 173 Cr.P.C. and the proceedings started. The complainant/

respondent no.2 and her husband opted to take divorce by mutual

consent and amicably settled all their disputes.

4. Respondent No.2, present in the Court, submitted that the

dispute between the parties has been amicable resolved. As per the

compromise deed, respondent no.2 has settled all her claims of every

nature in respect to the marriage and the dowry artciles, istridhan,

past, present and future maintenance and compensation in sum of

Rs.11,50,000/- from Vikas Deora. It is also agreed that both parties

shall move a first motion petition before the competent Court for

dissolution of their marriage preferably by 19.11.2013. Vikas Deora

shall hand over the demand draft of Rs. 2 Lacs in the name of

respondent no.2 at the time of recording of statement in the petition. It

is also agreed that Vikas Deora shall also make a lien marking/bank

guarantee for Rs. 2.5 Lacs in the name of respondent no.2 which shall

be handed over to respondent no.2 at the time of quashing of the FIR

in question. It is also agreed that respondent no.2 shall withdraw her

complaint under Section 12 of D.V. Act filed against Vikas Deora and

his family members and at the time of withdrawal of the said

complaint, Vikas Deora shall pay Rs.3,00,000/- through demand draft

in the name of respondent no.2. It is agreed that if Vikas Deora does

not cooperate with respondent no.2 in recording of statement for

second motion petition, respondent no.2 shall be entitled to encash the

said Lien marking/ Bank Guarantee and the amount given by Vikas

Deora till that date would be forfeited. It is also agreed that if

respondent no.2 does not come forward for the recording of statement

for second motion, then Vikas Deora shall be at liberty to cancel the

Lien marking/Bank Guarantee and that respondent no.2 shall have to

return, to him, all amount received till that date. It is also agreed that

Vikas Deora shall file a petition before this Court for the quashing of

the FIR in question. It is also agreed that Vikas Deora shall give a

demand draft of Rs. 4 Lacs to the respondent no.2 and that after the

receipt of the same, respondent no.2 shall have to cooperate for the

quashing of the FIR in question. It is also agreed that in case of any

default from Vikas Deora in fulfilling the aforesaid terms and

condition to this deed, respondent no.2 shall have the liberty to restore

the complaint under Section 12 of the D.V. Act against him and his

family members and other proceedings as per the provisions of law

and the amount received by the respondent no.2 shall be forfeited and

that Vikas Deora shall not claim the said amount from respondent

no.2 in future. It is also agreed that in case of default from the

respondent no.2 in fulfilling the terms of the compromise deed, Vikas

Deora shall be at liberty to recover the said amount from respondent

no.2. and that divorce may be granted to him. It is also agreed that

after receiving the said amount the parties shall not file any case or

complaint against each other or their families with respect to past

disputes between both parties and that they shall withdraw all cases

civil/criminal against each other and their respective family members.

It is also agreed that the date of marriage is agreed to be 24.02.2008

and that there shall be no dispute with regard to this date whatsoever

in the future by either party. It is further agreed that the parties shall

not use each other's names in any government and private/public

record in future. Respondent No.2 affirmed the contents of the

aforesaid settlement. All the disputes and differences have been

resolved through mutual consent. Now no dispute with petitioners

survives and so, the proceedings arising out of the FIR in question be

brought to an end. Statement of the respondent No.2 has been

recorded in this regard in which she stated that she has entered into a

compromise with the petitioners and has settled all the disputes with

them. She further stated that she has no objection if the FIR in

question is quashed.

5. In Gian Singh v. State of Punjab (2012) 10 SCC 303 Apex

Court has recognized the need of amicable resolution of disputes in

cases like the instant one, by observing as under:-

"61. In other words, the High Court must consider whether it would be unfair or contrary to the interest of justice to continue with the criminal proceedings or continuation of criminal proceedings would tantamount to abuse of process of law despite settlement and compromise between the victim and the wrongdoer and whether to secure the ends of justice, it is appropriate that criminal case is put to an end and if the answer to the above question(s) is in the affirmative, the High Court shall be well within its jurisdiction to quash the criminal proceedings."

6. The aforesaid dictum stands reiterated by the Apex Court in a

recent judgment in Narinder Singh v. State of Punjab (2014) 6 SCC

466. The relevant observations of the Apex Court in Narinder Singh

(Supra) are as under:-

"29. In view of the aforesaid discussion, we sum up and lay down the following principles by which the High Court would be guided in giving adequate treatment to the settlement between the parties and exercising its power under Section 482 of the Code while accepting the settlement and quashing the proceedings or refusing to accept the settlement with direction to continue with the criminal proceedings: 29.1 Power conferred under Section 482 of the Code is to be distinguished from the power which lies in the Court to compound the offences under Section 320 of the Code. No doubt, under Section 482 of the Code, the High Court has

inherent power to quash the criminal proceedings even in those cases which are not compoundable, where the parties have settled the matter between themselves. However, this power is to be exercised sparingly and with caution. 29.2. When the parties have reached the settlement and on that basis petition for quashing the criminal proceedings is filed, the guiding factor in such cases would be to secure:

(i) ends of justice, or

(ii) to prevent abuse of the process of any court. While exercising the power the High Court is to form an opinion on either of the aforesaid two objectives. 29.3. Such a power is not to be exercised in those prosecutions which involve heinous and serious offences of mental depravity or offences like murder, rape, dacoity, etc. Such offences are not private in nature and have a serious impact on society. Similarly, for the offences alleged to have been committed under special statute like the Prevention of Corruption Act or the offences committed by public servants while working in that capacity are not to be quashed merely on the basis of compromise between the victim and the offender.

29.4. On the other hand, those criminal cases having overwhelmingly and predominantly civil character, particularly those arising out of commercial transactions or arising out of matrimonial relationship or family disputes should be quashed when the parties have resolved their entire disputes among themselves.

7. The inherent powers of the High Court ought to be exercised to

prevent the abuse of process of law and to secure the ends of justice.

The respondent no.2 agrees to the quashing of the FIR in question

without any threat or coercion or undue influence and has stated that

the matter has been settled out of her own free will. As the matter has

been settled and compromised amicably, so, there would be an

extraordinary delay in the process of law if the legal proceedings

between the parties are carried on. So, this Court is of the considered

opinion that this is a fit case to invoke the jurisdiction under Section

482 Cr.P.C. to prevent the abuse of process of law and to secure the

ends of justice.

8. The incorporation of inherent power under Section 482 Cr.P.C.

is meant to deal with the situation in the absence of express provision

of law to secure the ends of justice such as, where the process is

abused or misused; where the ends of justice cannot be secured;

where the process of law is used for unjust or unlawful object; to

avoid the causing of harassment to any person by using the provision

of Cr.P.C. or to avoid the delay of the legal process in the delivery of

justice. Whereas, the inherent power is not to be exercised to

circumvent the express provisions of law.

9. It is settled law that the inherent power of the High Court under

Section 482 Cr.P.C. should be used sparingly. The Hon'ble Apex

Court in the case of State of Maharashtra through CBI v. Vikram

Anatrai Doshi and Ors. MANU/SC/0842/2014 and in the case of

Inder Singh Goswami v. State of Uttaranchal MANU/SC/0808/2009

has observed that powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. must be

exercised sparingly, carefully and with great caution. Only when the

Court comes to the conclusion that there would be manifest injustice

or there would be abuse of the process of the Court if such power is

not exercised, Court would quash the proceedings.

10. It is a well settled law that where the High Court is convinced

that the offences are entirely personal in nature and therefore do not

affect public peace or tranquillity and where it feels that quashing of

such proceedings on account of compromise would bring about peace

and would secure ends of justice, it should not hesitate to quash them.

In such cases, pursuing prosecution would be waste of time and

energy. Non-compoundable offences are basically an obstruction in

entering into compromise. In certain cases, the main offence is

compoundable but the connected offences are not. In the case of B.S.

Joshi and others v. State of Haryana and another 2003 (4) SCC 675

the Hon'ble Apex Court observed that even though the provisions of

Section 320 Cr.P.C. would not apply to such offences which are not

compoundable, it did not limit or affect the powers under Section 482

Cr.P.C. The Hon'ble Apex Court laid down that if for the purpose of

securing the ends of justice, quashing of FIR becomes necessary,

section 320 Cr.P.C. would not be a bar to the exercise of power of

quashing. In the nutshell, the Hon'ble Apex Court justified the

exercise of powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the

proceedings to secure the ends of justice in view of the special facts

and circumstances of the case, even where the offences were non-

compoundable.

In the light of the aforesaid, this Court is of the view that

notwithstanding the fact the offence under Section 498A IPC is a non-

compoundable offence, there should be no impediment in quashing

the FIR under this section, if the Court is otherwise satisfied that the

facts and circumstances of the case so warrant.

11. The Courts in India are now normally taking the view that

endeavour should be taken to promote conciliation and secure speedy

settlement of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs such as,

matrimonial disputes between the couple or/and between the wife and

her in-laws. India being a vast country naturally has large number of

married persons resulting into high numbers of matrimonial disputes

due to differences in temperament, life-styles, opinions, thoughts etc.

between such couples, due to which majority is coming to the Court to

get redressal. In its 59th report, the Law Commission of India had

emphasized that while dealing with disputes concerning the family,

the Court ought to adopt an approach radically different from that

adopted in ordinary civil proceedings and that it should make

reasonable efforts at settlement before the commencement of the trial.

Further it is also the constitutional mandate for speedy disposal of

such disputes and to grant quick justice to the litigants. But, our

Courts are already over burdened due to pendency of large number of

cases because of which it becomes difficult for speedy disposal of

matrimonial disputes alone. As the matrimonial disputes are mainly

between the husband and the wife and personal matters are involved

in such disputes, so, it requires conciliatory procedure to bring a

settlement between them. Nowadays, mediation has played a very

important role in settling the disputes, especially, matrimonial

disputes and has yielded good results. The Court must exercise its

inherent power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to put an end to the

matrimonial litigations at the earliest so that the parties can live

peacefully.

12. Since the subject matter of this FIR is essentially matrimonial,

which now stands mutually and amicably settled between the parties,

therefore, continuance of proceedings arising out of the FIR in

question would be an exercise in futility and is a fit case for this Court

to exercise its inherent jurisdiction.

13. In the facts and circumstances of this case, in view of statement

made by the respondent No.2 and the compromise arrived at between

the parties, the FIR in question warrants to be put to an end and

proceedings emanating thereupon need to be quashed.

14. Accordingly, this petition is allowed and FIR No.121/2012

dated 26.04.2012, under Sections 498A/406/34 IPC registered at

Police Station Kalkaji and the proceedings emanating therefrom are

quashed against the petitioners.

15. This petition is accordingly disposed of.

14. Application Crl.M.A. No.4581/2015 is also disposed of

accordingly.

(P.S.TEJI) JUDGE MARCH 08, 2016 dd