Allowed

Ravi Kant and 2 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

Allahabad HC18 Jul 2018A482/23004/2018

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

This court allowed an application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash criminal proceedings on facts involving Sections 308, 323, and 504 IPC. The Hon'ble Court accepted a post-cognizance compromise between the parties and noted the key prosecution witness's hostile stance, finding quashing expedient in the interest of justice to avoid wasting judicial time.

What did the court decide?

Quashing of the entire criminal proceedings registered as Case Crime No. 455 of 2017, subject to deposit of Rs. 4,000 as costs.

Ravi Kant and 2 Others Vs State of U.P. and Another — Quashing and FIR | Allahabad HC (2018)

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Court No. - 49

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Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 23004 of 2018

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Applicant :- Ravi Kant And 2 Others Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And Another Counsel for Applicant :- Pradeep Kumar Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.

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Hon'ble Saumitra Dayal Singh,J.

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Sri Anand Kumar Pandey, Advocate has filed his appearance slip alongwith a counter affidavit on behalf of the opposite party no.2 today, which is taken on record.

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Heard learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Anand Kumar Pandey, learned counsel for the opposite party no.2 and learned A.G.A. for the State.

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The present 482 Cr.P.C. application has been filed to quash the charge sheet dated 21.10.2017 registered as Case Crime No. 455 of 2017, under Sections 308, 323, 504 IPC, Police Station Asother, District Fatehpur.

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Learned counsel for the applicants submits that an FIR had come to be lodged by the opposite party no. 2 owing to some misunderstanding and misgivings between the parties. With passage of time they have been able to resolve their differences and have settled their dispute amicably in writing, which has also been verified by the learned court below vide order dated 06.03.2018. A copy of which has been annexed with the affidavit filed in support of the present application. They realise that there was no criminal intent on part of the applicant and that no criminal offence has been committed by the applicant.

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Sri Anand Kumar Pandey, learned counsel appearing for the opposite party no.2 does not dispute the correctness of the submission made by learned counsel for the applicant or the correctness of the documents relied upon by him. In fact the present counter affidavit discloses that the compromise has been entered into between the parties. He submits that opposite party no. 2 has no objection, if the proceedings in the aforesaid case are quashed.

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In this regard paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the said counter affidavit filed on behalf of the opposite party no.2 reads as under:

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"4. That the matter has been settled between the parties out of court now

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there is no grievance with each other and the deponent does not wants to prosecute the case further.

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5. That the applicants have not caused any injury to the deponent and I have received the injury accidentally therefore the applicants are innocent.

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6. That both the parties have filed their compromise before the court concerned on 17/02/2018 for verification and the court concerned has verified the aforesaid compromise on 06/03/18.

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7. That in view of the fact and circumstances mentioned above it is necessary and expedient in the interest of Justice that this Hon'ble Court may graciously be pleased to quash the charge sheet dated 21/10/17 registered as case crime no.455/17 under section 308, 323, 504 I.P.C. P.S.Asother District Fatehpur on the basis of compromise for which the deponent has no objection."

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Learned counsel for the applicant in support of his contention has placed reliance on the judgments of Apex Court in the case of Narinder Singh vs. State of Punjab reported in (2014) 6 SCC 466, Yogendra Yadav vs. State of Jharkhand reported in (2014) 9 SCC 653 and Parbatbhai Aahir Vs. State of Gujarat reported in (2017) 9 SCC 641 and has submitted that the applicant and opposite party no.2 have settled their civil and private disputes through a compromise and as such opposite party no.2 does not wish to press the aforesaid case against the applicant. Opposite party no.2 is ready to withdraw the prosecution of the applicants and in view of the compromise, no fruitful purpose would be served if the prosecution is allowed to go on.

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From perusal of the record, it is apparent that parties have entered into compromise and appear to have settled their real disputes amicably. Thus, it further appears that the opposite party no. 2, who would be the key prosecution witness, if the trial were to proceed, has declared his unequivocal intent to turn hostile at the trial. In such circumstances, it is apparent that merits and truth apart, the proceedings in trial, if allowed to continue, may largely be a waste of precious time by the learned court below.

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The court cannot remain oblivious to the hard reality that the facts of the present case and other similar cases present where, though allegations made in the FIR do contain ingredients of an offence, however, in view such settlement having been reached, the chances of conviction are not only bleak but if such trials are allowed to continue along with all other trials that lie piled up in practically all criminal courts in the state, the continuance of trials in cases such as the instant case may only work to the huge disadvantage of other cases where litigants are crying for

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justice.

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In normal circumstances, the court would be loathe to accept some of such compromise arrangements. Sadly, even that course does not commend itself to the court in view of the high pendency of criminal cases and the high propensity to lie and state falsehood that appears to be otherwise rampant in the society - where desire to take revenge appears to sometime over shadow the pure pursuit of justice; where winning a legal battle matters more than doing the right thing; where teaching a lesson to ones adversary often appears to be the only purpose of instituting a criminal proceeding.

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Thus, looking at the prevalent tendencies in the society, a more pragmatic, and less technical approach commends to the court - to let some criminal prosecutions such as the present case be dropped, for the sake of more effective, efficient and proper trial in other cases where the litigants appear to be serious about their rights and more consistent in their approach.

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Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the submissions advanced by learned counsel for the parties regarding the compromise entered into between the parties and taking all these factors into consideration cumulatively, the compromise between parties be accepted and further taking into account the legal position as laid down by the Apex Court in the case of Narinder Singh vs. State of Punjab (supra), Yogendra Yadav vs. State of Jharkhand (supra) and Parbatbhai Aahir Vs. State of Gujarat (supra) the entire proceedings of the aforesaid case is hereby quashed.

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The present 482 Cr.P.C. application thus may be allowed, subject however to payment of cost to be deposited by the parties before the Legal Services Committee, High Court Allahabad, within a period of three weeks from today. Such cost has to be imposed to let the parties (in this case) in particular and the society in general know that the courts cannot remain a mute spectator to unscrupulous and errant behavior by its members. A society that will allow its members to misuse its courts, will ultimately suffer and pay a huge cost. Litigants, both genuine and bogus, will always continue to stand in the same queue. The courts have no mechanism to pre-identify and distinguish between the genuine and the bogus litigant. That becomes known only after hearing is concluded in a case. Hearing requires time. In fact, even if the courts were to take punitive action against a bogus litigant, then, being bound by rules of procedure and fairness, such cases would require more time to be devoted to them than a case of two genuine litigants.

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In such circumstances, though no useful purpose would be served in allowing the prosecution to continue any further, however, no firm conclusion may be reached, at this stage, as to complete falsity of the allegations made against the applicants. The present 482 Cr.P.C. application thus stands allowed , subject however to payment of cost Rs. 4,000/- (2,000 on each party) to be deposited before the Legal Services Committee, High Court Allahabad, within a period of three weeks from today.

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The Legal Services Committee exists and works for the benefit of those litigants for whom court procedures are difficult to afford. It provides a crucial and essential service to the society itself. It thus appears proper to direct payment of the amount of cost to the Legal Services Committee, as a reminder and warning to the society and its members to introspect and reflect at their actions and deeds and also at the consequences that follow.

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Order Date :- 18.7.2018 Lbm/-

Ravi Kant and 2 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Ravi Kant and 2 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

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