Allowed

Ashawini Kumar and 3 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

Allahabad HC13 Apr 2023A482/7452/2023

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The Allahabad High Court quashed proceedings under Section 482 Cr.P.C. in a SC/ST case arising from Sections 323, 504, 506, 452 IPC, and Section 3(2)(Va) SC/ST Act. The Court accepted the parties' compromise, noting the civil nature of the dispute. Proceedings were quashed subject to payment of Rs. 10,000 cost.

What did the court decide?

Entire proceedings of Special S.T. No. 210 of 2022 quashed. Cost of Rs. 10,000 to be deposited with High Court Legal Services Committee, Allahabad, within six weeks.

Ashawini Kumar and 3 Others Vs State of U.P. and… — Criminal Trial and Appeal | Allahabad HC (2023)

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Court No. - 66

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Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 7452 of 2023

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Applicant :- Ashawini Kumar And 3 Others Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Amar Jeet,Sanjay Vikram Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Rakesh Kumar Singh

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Hon'ble Vivek Varma,J.

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Heard learned counsel for the applicants, Sri V.S. Rajbhar, learned A.G.A. for the State-opposite party no. 1, and Sri Rakesh Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the opposite party no. 2.

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The present application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been filed with the prayer to quash the entire proceedings of Special S.T. No. 210 of 2022, State v Ashwini Kumar Yadav and others, arising out of Case Crime No. 402 of 2018, under Sections 323, 504, 506, 452, 354 (kha) I.P.C. and 3(2)(Va) SC/ST Act, Police Station Tharwai, District Prayagraj pending in the Court of the Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Allahabad.

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Learned counsel for the applicants submits that:-

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(i) the dispute between the parties were purely civil and private in nature;

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(ii) the F.I.R. came to be lodged by the opposite party no. 2 owing to misunderstandings and misgivings between the parties and not on account of any real occurrence, as alleged;

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(iii) there never was any criminal intent on part of the applicants nor any criminal offence as alleged had ever occurred;

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(iv) at present, the parties to the dispute have resolved their differences and have made peace;

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(v) in view of the settlement reached between the parties, the parties pray another chance be given to them to develop and experience normal relationship;

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(vi) the continuance of the criminal proceedings may in fact hamper the otherwise good chance of the parties enjoying a normal relationship;

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(vii) in such changed circumstances, the opposite party no. 2 does not wish to press charges against the applicants.

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It is also stated that compromise deed had been filed by the parties before the learned court below. It is further stated that pursuant to the order dated 17.03.2023 passed by this Court, the parties appeared before the Court below and the learned court below has verified the aforesaid compromise vide order dated 31.03.2023. The copy of the compromise deed has been filed as Annexure-5 to the affidavit and the copy of order of verification dated 31.03.2023 has been filed as Annexure-1 to the supplementary affidavit.

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In support of his contentions, learned counsel for the applicants has placed reliance on the judgments of Apex Court in the case of Narinder Singh vs. State of Punjab, (2014) 6 SCC 466, Yogendra Yadav vs. State of Jharkhand, (2014) 9 SCC 653 and Parbatbhai Aahir Vs. State of Gujarat, (2017) 9 SCC 641. He has also relied upon the judgments of this Court in Application U/S 482 No. 1666 of 2022, Shree Kishan and another v. State of U.P. and another, decided on 02.09.2022; Application U/S 482 No. 10732 of 2022, Manager Mehram Singh @ Mehram Singh v. State of U.P. and another, decided on 16.09.2022; and Application U/S 482 No. 30336 of 2022, Kishori Sen v. State of U.P. and another, decided on 21.10.2022.

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As per the report dated 16.03.2023 of the District Magistrate, Prayagraj, the opposite party no. 2 has not claimed any compensation. A copy of the report dated 16.03.2023 produced by the learned A.G.A. before the Court is taken on record.

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Learned counsel for the opposite party no. 2 submits that the opposite party no. 2 has no objection if the proceedings in the aforesaid case are quashed. He does not dispute the submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the applicants or the correctness of the documents relied upon by him.

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From a perusal of the record, it appears, the real dispute between the parties was civil and private in nature and criminal prosecution arose incidently and not as a natural consequence of the real occurrence. It is further apparent that the parties have entered into a compromise and they further appear to have settled their aforesaid real disputes amicably.

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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 the allegations made in the complaint do appear to contain the

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ingredients of a criminal offence, however, in view of settlement having been reached, the chances of conviction are not only bleak but, if such proceedings are allowed to continue along with all other trials that lie piled up in practically all criminal courts in the state, the continuance of proceedings in cases such as the instant case may only work to the huge disadvantage of other cases where litigants are crying for justice.

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In normal circumstances, the court would be loathe to accept some of such compromise arrangements. However, that course does not commend 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 lesson to one's 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 cases of Narinder Singh vs. State of Punjab (supra), Yogendra Yadav vs. State of Jharkhand (supra) and Parbatbhai Aahir Vs. State of Gujarat (supra) and by this Court in Shree Kishan and another (supra), Manager Mehram Singh @ Mehram Singh (supra) and Kishori Sen (supra) the entire proceedings of the aforesaid case are 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 High Court Legal Services Committee, Allahabad, within a period of six 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 behaviour of its members. A society that will allow its members to misuse its courts, will ultimately suffer

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and pay a huge cost. Litigants, both genuine and bogus, will always continue to stand in a common queue. The courts have no mechanism to pre-identify and distinguish between the genuine and the bogus litigants. That differentiation emerges only after the hearing is concluded in any 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 are likely to 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. 10,000/- to be deposited before the High Court Legal Services Committee, Allahabad, within a period of six 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 :- 13.4.2023 SKT/-

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Digitally signed by :- SHIVA KANT TIWARI High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

Ashawini Kumar and 3 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

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Ashawini Kumar and 3 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

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