Santosh Kumar Vs State of U.P. and Another — Dowry and Cruelty | Allahabad HC (2022)

Santosh Kumar Vs State of U.P. and Another — Dowry and Cruelty | Allahabad HC (2022)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

No substantive relief: the prayer to quash the charge sheet and consequential proceedings was rejected, any interim order stands vacated, and no specific bail direction was issued; the application was disposed of with the aforesaid observations.

Issue for consideration

Whether the proceedings of Case No. 12596 of 2017 (State Vs. Santosh Kumar), arising out of Case Crime No. 119 of 2016 under Sections 498A, 506 I.P.C., and the charge sheet dated 05.04.2017 should be quashed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. +1 more

Court's answer

The allegations in the first information report disclose commission of a cognizable offence and are supported by the material collected during investigation, on whose basis the police laid the charge sheet against the applicant.

Ratio / Principle

In exercise of its power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. this Court is not required to assess the correctness of the allegations or the reliability of the material collected during investigation; the prayer to quash the charge sheet and the consequential proceeding is rejected.

Key takeaways

Any interim order operating in favour of the applicant stands vacated.ratio¶11
No specific direction need be issued regarding consideration of the applicant's bail prayer, since the Apex Court in Satendra Kumar Antil has already laid down guidelines for grant of bail without fettering the discretion of courts concerned, and the court concerned is expected to take those guidelines into consideration.ratio¶14

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Criminal misc. application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. seeking quashing of charge sheet dated 05.04.2017 in Case Crime No. 119 of 2016 under Sections 498A, 506 I.P.C. (P.S. Cantt., District Varanasi) and of the consequential proceedings of Case No. 12596 of 2017 (State Vs. Santosh Kumar) pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Varanasi — disposed of with quashing prayer rejected. Held: the FIR allegations disclosed commission of a cognizable offence and were supported by the material collected during investigation, on whose basis the police laid the charge sheet; in exercise of jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr.P.C. the Court is not required to assess the correctness of the allegations or the reliability of the investigation material. Interim order, if any, vacated. On the applicant's plea that he had not been arrested and coercive process was feared, the Court declined to issue any specific bail direction, noting that the Apex Court in Satendra Kumar Antil (SLP (Crl.) No. 5191 of 2021, decided 07.10.2021) has already laid down guidelines for grant of bail, which the court concerned is expected to consider. Earlier reference to the Mediation and Conciliation Centre (co-ordinate Bench order dated 15.05.2018) did not proceed as the applicant failed to deposit Rs. 10,000/- as directed.

Court No. - 87

Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 16923 of 2018

Applicant :- Santosh Kumar Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Praveen Kumar Singh,Anurag Vajpeyi

Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.

Hon'ble Dr. Gautam Chowdhary,J.

Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.

This application has been filed for quashing of the proceedings of Case No. 12596 of 2017 (State Vs. Santosh Kumar) arising out of Case Crime No. 119 of 2016 under Sections 498A, 506 I.P.C. Police Statin Cantt., District Varanasi pending before learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, District Varanasi as well as to quash the charge sheet dated 05.04.2017 passed in the aforesaid case.

The co-ordinate Bench of this Court, vide order dated 15.05.2018 had referred the matter before Mediation and Conciliation Centre of this Court. As per report of Incharge Mediation Centre, the applicant has not deposited the amount of Rs. 10,000/- as directed by this Court and thus notices were not sent to the parties.

On perusal of the record, the Court finds that the allegations made in the first information report disclose commission of a cognizable offence and those allegations have found support from the material collected during the course of investigation on the basis whereof the police has laid a charge sheet against the applicant.

This Court in exercise of its power under section 482 Cr.P.C., is not required to assess the correctness of the allegation and the reliability of the material collected during the course of investigation, the prayer to quash the charge sheet and the consequential proceeding is rejected.

Interim order, if any, stands vacated.

At this stage, the learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant has so far not been arrested in the above case and the police is seeking to arrest the applicant and there may be coercive processes issued against the applicant by the court

concerned therefore, some direction may be issued to the court concerned for consideration of the bail prayer of the applicant.

As the Apex Court in Satendra Kumar Antil Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and another (Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 5191 of 2021, decided on 07.10.2021) has already laid down guidelines for grant of bail, without fettering the discretion of the courts concerned and the statutory provisions governing consideration in grant of bail, no specific direction need be issued by this Court as it is expected that the court concerned will take into consideration the necessary guidelines already issued by the Apex court.

With the aforesaid observations, the application is disposed off.

Order Date :- 1.11.2022 S.Ali

Digitally signed by SHAUKAT ALI Date: 2022.11.02 16:52:29 IST Reason: Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad