Arshad Khan and Others vs State of Up ANOther — Dowry and Cruelty | Allahabad HC (2025)

Arshad Khan and Others vs State of Up ANOther — Dowry and Cruelty | Allahabad HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Application under Section 482 allowed; charge-sheet dated 01.09.2023 (C.S. No. 57/23), cognizance and summoning order dated 16.09.2023, and the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No. 138472 of 2023 pending before the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar, quashed.

Issue for consideration

Whether the charge-sheet dated 01.09.2023 (C.S. No. 57/23), the cognizance/summoning order dated 16.09.2023 and the entire ensuing proceedings of Criminal Case No. 138472 of 2023 under Sections 498A, 323, 504, 506 IPC and Section 3/4 of the D.P. Act — proceedings that arose out of a matrimonial dispute since settled between the parties — should be quashed on the applicants' Section 482 application.

Court's answer

The criminal proceedings were essentially an outcome of a matrimonial dispute; with the parties having settled, there are no overbearing circumstances warranting prosecution, there is practically no chance of conviction even if tried, the trial would be an exercise in futility, and quashing the proceedings would be in the interest of justice.

Ratio / Principle

Continuation of the criminal proceedings despite settlement between the victim and the wrongdoer would be unfair, contrary to the interest of justice, and tantamount to abuse of process of law; to secure the ends of justice the criminal case should be put to an end.

Key takeaways

As the parties do not wish to pursue the case and the matter has been mutually settled by the settlement agreement dated 09.05.2024, no useful purpose would be served in proceeding further with the matter.ratio¶8
In view of the well settled principles laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Parbatbhai Aahir (2017) 9 SCC 641, Gian Singh (2012) 10 SCC 303 and State of M.P. v. Laxmi Narayan (2019) 5 SCC 688, the proceedings of the aforesaid criminal case are hereby quashed and the application is allowed.ratio¶9

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

High Court of Judicature at Allahabad (Vikram D. Chauhan, J.) allowed an application under Section 482 (No. 2273 of 2024, decided 26.5.2025) and quashed the charge-sheet dated 01.09.2023 (C.S. No. 57/23), the cognizance/summoning order dated 16.09.2023, and the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No. 138472 of 2023 (State of U.P. vs. Arshad Khan and others) under Sections 498A, 323, 504, 506 IPC and Section 3/4 of the D.P. Act (arising out of Case Crime No. 17 of 2023, P.S. Bajariya, Kanpur Nagar) pending before the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar. The Court found the proceedings were essentially an outcome of a matrimonial dispute; the parties had entered a settlement agreement before the Court's Mediation Centre on 09.05.2024, opposite party no.2 did not wish to proceed, there was practically no chance of conviction, trial would be an exercise in futility, and continuation despite settlement would amount to abuse of process. Acting on the settled principles in Parbatbhai Aahir (2017) 9 SCC 641, Gian Singh (2012) 10 SCC 303 and State of M.P. v. Laxmi Narayan (2019) 5 SCC 688, the Court quashed the proceedings in the interest of justice.

Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:89385

Court No. - 75

Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 2273 of 2024

Applicant :- Arshad Khan And Others Opposite Party :- State Of Up Another Counsel for Applicant :- Vikrant Singh Parihar Counsel for Opposite Party :- Alok Kumar Srivastava,G.A.,Shweta Srivastava

Hon'ble Vikram D. Chauhan,J.

Heard learned counsel for the applicants, learned counsel for the opposite party no.2 and learned A.G.A. for the State.

This application has been filed for quashing the charge-sheet dated 01.09.2023 being C.S. No. 57/23, as well as, entire proceedings registered in its pursuance as Criminal Case No.138472 of 2023 (State of U.P. vs. Arshad Khan and others) under Sections 498A, 323, 504, 506 IPC and Section 3/4 of D.P. Act, P.S. Bajariya, District Kanpur Nagar (arising out of Case Crime No.17 of 2023 registered at P.S. Bajariya, District Kanpur Nagar) pending before learned Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar including cognizance and summoning order dated 16.09.2023.

Learned counsel for the applicants submitted that the settlement agreement has already been entered between the parties before the Mediation Centre of this Court on 09.05.2024, therefore, the present case be finally decided.

Learned counsel for opposite party no.2 has not disputed the facts as stated by learned counsel for the applicants. He further contended that opposite party no.2 does not want to proceed with the criminal case against the applicants and the same may be quashed.

Learned AGA does not dispute the fact that parties have entered into settlement agreement before the Mediation Centre of this Court. It is further submitted that he would have no objection in case criminal proceedings are put to an end. He further submits that in view of settlement there is virtually no chance of any conviction being recorded in the criminal proceedings.

Having examined the matter in its totality, this Court is of the view that the criminal proceedings in the present case had essentially been an outcome of a matrimonial dispute; and there are no such over bearing circumstances for which the applicants ought to be prosecuted even after the parties has entered into a settlement. Needless to observe that with the present stand of the parties in terms of their settlement, there is practically no chance of recording conviction, even if the case under the F.I.R. in question is put to trial. In other words, entire exercise of trial would only be an exercise in futility. On the contrary, looking to the nature of dispute and the fact that the disputants have settled the dispute and want to proceed peacefully ahead, it would be in the interest of justice that criminal proceedings in question are quashed.

It would be unfair or contrary to the interest of justice to continue with the criminal proceeding or continuation of the criminal proceeding would tantamount to abuse of process of law despite settlement between the victim and the wrongdoer and to secure the ends of justice, it is appropriate that the criminal case is put to an end.

In view of the fact that the parties do not want to pursue the case any further as stated by them and the fact that matter has been mutually settled between the parties in view of the settlement agreement dated 09.05.2024, no useful purpose would be served in proceeding with the matter further.

Thus, in view of the well settled principles of law as laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Parbatbhai Aahir Vs. State of Gujarat (2017) 9 SCC 641, Gian Singh Vs. State of Punjab (2012) 10 SCC 303 and State of M.P. Vs. Laxmi Narayan, (2019) 5 SCC 688 , the proceedings of the aforesaid case is hereby quashed.

The present application is, accordingly, allowed .

Order Date :- 26.5.2025 S.Prakash

Digitally signed by :- SHASHI PRAKASH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad