Kamran Ansari & Ors. vs State & Anr.
2016 Latest Caselaw 1814 Del

*   IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+   CRL.M.C. 5265/2015 & Crl.M.A. No. 18999/2015
                                  Date of Decision : March 08th, 2016
    KAMRAN ANSARI & ORS.                  ..... Petitioner
               Through: Md. Shadab, Advocate

                         versus

    STATE & ANR.                                           ..... Respondent
                         Through:       Mr. Mukesh Kumar, Additional
                                        Public Prosecutor for the State with
                                        Sub-Inspector Bani Singh, Police
                                        Station Jamia Nagar, Delhi
                                        Mr. M. Husain Advocate for
                                        respondent No. 2.
           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, Sh. Kamran Ansari, Smt. Chand Bibi, Sh.

Rafi Ahmed, Smt. Malka Rafi, Sh. Mohd. Rashid, Smt. Nasreen, Sh.

Mohd. Arshad and Smt. Rushda Tasneem for quashing of FIR

No.597/2014 dated 30.07.2014, under Sections 498A/406/34 IPC

registered at Police Station Jamia Nagar on the basis of the mediation

report of the Delhi High Court Mediation and Conciliation Centre,

Delhi High Court, New Delhi in view of the settlement arrived at

between the petitioner no.1 and respondent No.2, namely, Smt. Sadia

Naaz @ Sadiya Naaz on 19.11.2015.

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 the petitioner no.1 and the respondent no.2 was solemnized

on 05.01.2012 as per Muslim rites and ceremonies. On the very next

day, the mother-in-law and the sister-in-law of the complainant started

taunting her for bringing insufficient dowry. The complainant was

pressurized by her mother-in-law to do all house hold chores due to

which the left foot of the complainant twisted but she was not allowed

any rest. The accused persons also snatched away all the jewellery

items of the complainant. The accused persons called the parents of

the complainant to the house of her sister-in-law and demanded more

articles from them. One day, when the complainant asked her husband

to recharge her phone, she was beaten up by her husband and mother-

in-law. The father of the complainant took her to hospital and doctor

opined that there is severe infection in the left foot of the complainant

for the last 6 weeks. Later on, the complainant got pregnant and

suffered miscarriage due to continuous mental torture. On 08.06.2012,

the husband along with his mother, sister and her three children left

for Hyderabad without informing the complainant. Later on, the

accused persons tried to change the religion of the complainant. On

31.10.2012, the complainant came to her parental home.

The respondent no.2/complainant lodged the FIR in question

against the petitioners. The respondent no.2 also filed a petition under

Section 125 Cr.P.C. against the petitioner no.1 and other applications

against the petitioners. Later on, both the parties compromised their

matter with each other amicably.

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

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

mediation report, the petitioner no.1 has agreed to pay a sum of

Rs.7,25,000/- to respondent no.2 towards full and final settlement of

all the claims and demands towards dowry articles, maintenance (past,

present and future), stridhan, permanent alimony of respondent no.2

against petitioner no.1. It is also agreed that out of the said amount Rs.

5 Lacs has already been paid by petitioner no.1 to respondent no.2 as

per Court's order during the bail proceedings before the Registrar

General, Delhi High Court and the same has been received by

respondent no.2 and the respondent no.2 acknowledges the same. It is

further agreed that petitioner no.1 has given Talaaq by pronouncing

the word Talaaq Talaaq Talaaq on 19.11.2015 in the presence of the

witnesses to this settlement agreement. The Haq Mehar of

Rs.25,000/- stands already paid by the petitioner no.1 to respondent

no.2 at the time of Nikaah and the same is acknowledged by the

respondent no.2. It is also agreed out of the balance amount of Rs.2.25

lacs, the petitioner no.1 shall pay an amount of Rs. 1 lacs to

respondent no.2 on or before 23.11.2015 by way of cash or pay order.

It is also agreed that the remaining balance of Rs. 1.25 Lacs shall be

paid by the petitioner no.1 to the respondent no.2 at the time of

getting the FIR in question quashed before this Court within a period

of 45 days from the date of this mediation report. It is also agreed that

respondent no.2 shall sign the quashing petition and shall give

affidavit to that effect and fully cooperate in getting the FIR in

question quashed against the petitioner no.1 and all his family

members named in the FIR in question by giving statement before this

Court. It is also all agreed that the cases filed by any of the party shall

be withdrawn and that if any case/suit/complaint other than the above

said FIR in question in any Court of law or in any police station, shall

not be pursued by the parties and shall be withdrawn, if found

otherwise, shall be considered, null and void. It is also agreed that

both parties shall neither initiate or harm each other or their respective

families in future in any manner whatsoever and that they have no

claims whatsoever against each other arising out of their marriage and

that all disputes have now been settled. Respondent No.2 affirmed the

contents of the aforesaid settlement and of her affidavit dated

16.12.2015 supporting this petition. In the affidavit, the respondent

no.2 has stated that she has no objection if the FIR in question is

quashed. 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.597/2014

dated 30.07.2014, under Sections 498A/406/34 IPC registered at

Police Station Jamia Nagar and the proceedings emanating therefrom

are quashed against the petitioners.

15. This petition is accordingly disposed of.

14. Application Crl.M.A. No. 18999/2015 is also disposed of

accordingly.

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