Uttarakhand High Court
C482/1497/2022 on 29 August, 2022
Office Notes, reports,
SL. orders or proceedings or
Date COURT'S OR JUDGES'S ORDERS
No directions and Registrar's
order with Signatures
29.08.2022
C-482 No. 1497 of 2022
With
Compounding Application No. IA/1/2022
Hon'ble Sharad Kumar Sharma, J.
Mr. R.V.S. Khokher, Advocate, for the
applicants.
Mr. Siddharth Bisht, Brief Holder, for
the State.
Ms. Radha Arya, Advocate, for the
complainant/respondent No. 2.
In the present C-482 Application, the
applicants, who are the accused, for their
alleged involvement in commission of the
offences under Section 498A, 323, 504, 506 of
IPC, as well as Section 3/4 of the Dowry
Prohibition Act, which was registered against
them as an FIR No. 52 dated 16.02.2021, at P.S.
Thana ITI, district Udham Singh Nagar.
On the culmination of the
investigation, a Charge Sheet, being Charge
Sheet No. 63 of 2021 dated 12.03.2021, has
been submitted against the present applicants
and they had been summoned by the Court of
Judicial Magistrate, Kashipur, District Udham
Singh Nagar, in Criminal Case No. 1129 of 2021,
State Vs. Jitendra Babu Sharma and others.
The present applicants have put a
challenge to the Charge Sheet, as well as the
summoning order. While giving challenge to
the aforesaid orders, the present C-482
Application has also been filed for quashing of
the proceedings of the aforesaid Criminal Case
No. 1129 of 2021, State Vs. Jitendra Babu
Sharma and others, which is presently pending
consideration before the Court of Judicial
Magistrate, Kashipur, district Udham Singh
Nagar.
Being conscious of the fact, that two of
the offences, which have been complained of,
and against which the Charge Sheet has been
submitted i.e. Section 498-A of the IPC and 3/4
of the Dowry Prohibition Act, are not
compoundable offences under Section 320 of
the Cr.P.C., and that too, particularly under the
peculiar circumstances of the case, where the
parties to the proceedings are expecting a
consensus decree of divorce, as the
proceedings under Section 13B, has already
been instituted on 27.07.2022.
Merely in an anticipation of probable
proceedings of dissolution of marriage Section
320 of the Cr.PC. could not be invoked, but,
exclusively owing to the statement, which has
been recorded by the complainant respondent
No. 2 herein, who is present in person, duly
identified by her counsel, Ms. Radha Arya,
Advocate, she has candidly made a statement
before the Court that irrespective of the fact
that the proceedings under Section 13B of the
Hindu Marriage Act, is pending consideration,
but owing to the fact that the parties have
unanimously resolved to severe their
matrimonial relationship, and that she doesn't
intends to prosecute the present applicants for
the offences, referred to hereinabove.
So far as the applicants are concerned,
they are present in person and made their
statement in the presence of their counsel Mr.
R.V.S. Khokher, Advocate, that they are
amenable to a settlement as referred to in the
Compounding Application, preferred under
Section 320 of the Cr.PC.
Owing to the wider principles, which
have been laid down by the Hon'ble Apex
Court, laying down the parameters for
composition of the offences, as that
adjudicated by the Hon'ble Apex Court in a
judgment of Nikhil Merchant Vs. CBI and
Another, as reported in 2008 (9) SCC 677 and
that of the judgment as reported in 2012 (10)
SCC 303, Gian Singh Vs. State of Punjab and
Another, which this Court too has considered
in a judgment of Pan Singh Rana Vs. State of
Uttarakhand and Another, as reported in 2018
(2) UD 680, the present Compounding
Application, exclusively on the basis of the
statement recorded by the complainant, is
being allowed, and as a consequence thereto,
Criminal Case No. 1129 of 2021, State Vs.
Jitendra Babu Sharma and others, which is
presently pending consideration for trial before
the Court of Judicial Magistrate, Kashipur,
district Udham Singh Nagar, would stand
quashed.
(Sharad Kumar Sharma, J.)
29.08.2022
Mahinder/
