On the Order dated 2 September 2020, the High Court of Judicature, Allahabad had quashed the charges and further proceeding of the matter. The matter concerned matrimonial dispute and the Court regarded it as of private nature. Moreover, the Court found that the parties had already amicably settled the matter beforehand.
Background of the Case
The applicant no. 1 is Ayushi Gupta (wife) and applicant nos. 2 and 3 are her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Although the matter concerns a matrimonial dispute, both the parties had amicably settled the matter. Further, the mother-in-law doesn’t want to carry on with the impugned case further. Initially, in a complaint case (Raghvendra Jaiswal vs.Smt. Ayushi Gupta & others), this dispute arose as the matter is of private nature and in the interests of justice; it would be necessary to quash the proceedings of this particular case.
The present application under Section 482 (Quashing of criminal proceedings for non-compoundable offences) of CrPC has been filed for quashing the entire proceedings including the order dated 10 December 2019 in the aforementioned Complaint Case (which is pending Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar) that was filed under Sections 387 (Putting a person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, to commit extortion) and 506 (Punishment for Criminal Intimidation) IPC at the Police Station (PS) of Rail Bazar, Kanpur Nagar.
Submissions Before the Court
The learned Counsel for Ayushi Gupta and her family had put forth that the matrimonial dispute has already been settled amicably. Furthermore, the complainant also doesn’t want to proceed with any further charges. As this matter is private and both the parties had already compromised, quashing the proceedings is the best possible way ahead. It was also noted that none of the parties had any criminal history. The learned Additional Government Advocate (AGA) had no objection if the parties had already compromised.
Court’s Reading and Decision
Given the above submissions, the bench comprised of Justice Raj Beer Singh, had directed that the dispute is private in nature and whether the parties have already compromised or not doesn’t make an impact on the society. So, the Court had quashed the proceedings and accordingly, the impugned proceedings in the case (Raghvendra Jaiswal vs. Smt. Ayushi Gupta & others) are also quashed. The Court, having taken into account the following observations had stated that:
- The power conferred under Section 482 of the Code to quash the criminal proceedings for the non-compoundable offences under Section 320 of the Code can be exercised in cases of a civil character, particularly those arising out of commercial transactions or arising out of the matrimonial relationship or family disputes and when the parties have resolved the entire dispute amongst themselves.
- Such power should not be exercised in prosecutions which involve heinous and serious offences of mental depravity or offences like murder, rape, dacoity, etc. Such offences are not private in nature and have a serious impact on society.
- Similarly, such power is not to be exercised for the offences under the special statutes like Prevention of Corruption Act or the offences committed by public servants while working in that capacity should not be quashed merely based on a compromise between the victim and the offender.
- Offences under Section 307 IPC and the Arms Act etc. would fall in the category of heinous and serious offences and, therefore, are to be treated as a crime against the society and not against the individual alone, and therefore, the criminal proceedings for the offence under Section 307 IPC and/or the Arms Act etc. which have a serious impact on the society cannot be quashed in exercise of powers under Section 482 of the Code, on the ground that the parties have resolved their entire dispute amongst themselves.
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