Satyendra Bahadur and Another Vs State of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Lko. and Another — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Satyendra Bahadur and Another Vs State of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Lko. and Another — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Application allowed; the entire criminal proceedings arising out of Case Crime No. 540/2022, including the chargesheet dated 02.10.2022 and the summoning order dated 11.07.2023 passed in Criminal Case No.79392/23 before the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow, quashed as far as related to the applicants; Office/Registry directed to send copy of the order to the court concerned through email/fax for necessary compliance.

Issue for consideration

Whether the criminal proceedings arising out of Case Crime No. 540/2022 — including the chargesheet dated 02.10.2022 and the summoning order dated 11.07.2023 in Criminal Case No.79392/23 — should be quashed in view of the compromise entered into between the parties and verified by the trial court. +1 more

Court's answer

This Court was of the view that chances of ultimate conviction were extremely bleak and no useful purpose would be served by allowing the criminal proceedings to continue.

Ratio / Principle

Adopting the Apex Court observations relied upon, this Court held that inherent power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. (akin to Section 528 BNSS, 2023) could be exercised to prevent abuse of process of any Court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice.

Key takeaways

Per the relied-upon Apex Court observations, in given facts and considering the nature of the dispute/crime, criminal proceedings can be quashed based upon the settlement between the parties.ratio¶18
The trial court had verified the compromise entered into between the parties by its order dated 17.4.2025.ratio¶16
The present application is allowed, and consequently the entire proceedings (criminal proceedings arising out of Case Crime No. 540/2022, the chargesheet dated 02.10.2022 and the summoning order dated 11.07.2023) are quashed as far as related to the applicants.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench (Manish Kumar, J.), allowed an application under Section 482 Cr.P.C./Section 528 BNSS (No. 2020 of 2025, decided 2.5.2025) and quashed, qua the applicants, the entire criminal proceedings arising out of Case Crime No. 540/2022 under Sections 354 Gha, 504, 506 IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2000 pending before the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow, including the chargesheet dated 02.10.2022 and the summoning order dated 11.07.2023 in Criminal Case No.79392/23. The parties had compromised (compromise dated 14.2.2025), the High Court had referred the matter for verification by order dated 4.4.2025, and the trial court verified the compromise on 17.4.2025; respondent no. 2 stated she had no grudge against the applicants. Relying on, inter alia, Gian Singh, Ramgopal, B.S. Joshi, Nikhil Merchant, Laxmi Narayan and Bhajan Lal, the Court found the chances of ultimate conviction extremely bleak and no useful purpose in continuing the proceedings.

Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC-LKO:25413

Court No. - 14

Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 2020 of 2025

Applicant :- Satyendra Bahadur And Another Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Lko. And Another Counsel for Applicant :- Manoj Kumar Dubey,Deena Nath Mishra

Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Ajai Kumar,Sachin Yadav

Hon'ble Manish Kumar,J.

Supplementary affidavit filed on behalf of applicants today is taken on record bringing on record the certified copy of verification of compromise order dated 17.4.2025 annexed as Annexure SA-3.

Heard learned counsel for the applicants, learned counsel for respondent no. 2, learned AGA for the State and perused the record.

The present case has been filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C./528 of B.N.S.S. with the following main reliefs:-

"i. To quash the criminal proceedings arising out of Case Crime No. 540/2022 lodged under Section 354 Gha, 504, 506 IPC and Section 67 of Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2000 pending in the court of Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow. (State Vs Satyendra Bahadur and others).

ii. To quash the Chargesheet, dated 02.10.2022 as well as the summoning order dated 11.07.2023 passed in Criminal Case No.79392/23 related to Case Crime No. 540/2022 lodged under Section 354 Gha, 504, 506 IPC and Section 67 of Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2000 pending in the court of Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow (State Vs Satyendra Bahadur and others) (contained as Annexure No.1 & 2 to this Petition)."

Learned counsel for the respective parties have submitted that a compromise dated 14.2.2025 (annexure no. SA-2 to the supplementary affidavit) entered into between the parties has been verified by the learned trial court by its order dated 17.4.2025 (annexure no. SA-3 to the supplementary affidavit) in pursuance of the order of this Court dated 4.4.2025 (annexure -SA-1 to the supplementary affidavit) passed in the present case.

Learned Counsel for the respondent no. 2 has submitted that she has no grudge or grievance against the present

applicants now.

It appears that after considering the averments made in the present case and the documents in support thereof as also the submissions made by the learned counsel for the applicants, this Court vide order dated 4.4.2025 referred the matter to the concerned court for the purpose of verification of the compromise entered into between the parties.

It appears from the order dated 17.4.2025 that the trial court has verified the compromise.

Considering the aforesaid as also the submissions made by learned Counsel for the parties as also the observations made by Apex Court in the case of State of Karnataka Vs. L. Muniswamy and Others, 1977 (2) SCC 699; State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal and Others, 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335; Prashant Bharti Vs. State (NCT of Delhi), (2013) 9 SCC 293; Rajiv Thapar and Ors. Vs. Madan Lal Kapoor, (2013) 3 SCC 330; Ahmad Ali Quraishi and Ors. Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors. (2020) 13 SCC 435, according to which inherent power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. (akin to Section 528 BNSS, 2023) could be exercised to prevent abuse of process of any Court or otherwise to secure ends of justice, as also the observations made by Apex Court in the case of Ramgopal and others Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2022) 14 SCC 531, Gian Singh Vs. State of Punjab [2012 10 SCC 303], Mohd. Ibrahim Vs. State of U.P., 2022 SCC Online ALL 106, Gold Quest International Ltd. Vs. State of Tamilnadu, 2014 (15) SCC 235, B.S. Joshi Vs. State of Haryana, 2003 (4) SCC 675, Jitendra Raghuvanshi Vs. Babita Raghuvanshi, 2013(4) SCC 58, Madhavarao Jiwajirao Scindia Vs. Sambhajirao Chandrojirao Angre, 1988 1 SCC 692, Nikhil Merchant Vs. C.B.I. and another, 2008(9) SCC 677, Manoj Sharma Vs. State and others, 2008(16) SCC 1, State of M.P. Vs. Laxmi Narayan and others, 2019(5) SCC 688, Narindra Singh and others Vs. State of Punjab and another, (2014) 6 SCC 466, Manoj Kumar and others Vs. State of U.P and others (2008) 8 SCC 781, Union Carbide Corporation and others Vs. Union of India and others (1991) 4 SCC 584, Manohar Lal Sharma Vs. Principal Secretary and others (2014) 2 SCC 532 and Supreme Court Bar Association Vs. Union of India (1998) 4 SCC 409 , according to which, in given facts, based upon

the settlement between the parties the criminal proceedings can be quashed,as also the nature of dispute/crime, this Court is of the view that the present application is liable to be allowed as chances of ultimate conviction are extremely bleak and hence no useful purpose would be served by allowing the criminal proceedings to continue.

Accordingly, present application is allowed . Consequently, the entire proceedings, quoted above, are hereby quashed as far as it is related to the the applicants.

Office/Registry is directed to send the copy of this order to the court concerned through email/fax for necessary compliance.

Order Date :- 2.5.2025 AKK

Digitally signed by :- AMIT KUMAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench