Court No. - 33
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 5063 of 2019 Petitioner :- Nabi Hasan And 2 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- P.K. Singh,Suresh Bahadur Singh Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J. Hon'ble Vivek Varma,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner; learned A.G.A. for the respondents 1 and 2; and perused the record.
The instant petition seeks quashing of the first information report dated 21.12.2018 registered as Case Crime No.403 of 2018, under Sections 498-A, 323, 304, 304-B IPC and Section 3/4 of D.P. Act, P.S. Chandaus, District Aligarh.
The deceased Ruksar, who is the daughter of the respondent no.3, before her death made a dying declaration, a certified copy of which is on record at page 31 of the paper book. On the basis of the aforesaid dying declaration, learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that role of pouring kerosene and setting the deceased on fire has been attributed to the mother-in- law and to her husband (Shahrukh) and presence of no one else except Nanad Mantasha is shown at the time of the incident with a clarification that Mantasha is not responsible. It has been submitted that, under the circumstances, the petitioner no.1, who is the father-in-law; the petitioner no.2, who is minor brother-in-law (Devar); and the petitioner no.3 (Mantasha), who is the Nanad, are entitled to protection till completion of investigation, particularly, since the dying declaration holds only husband and mother in law responsible.
Learned A.G.A. has submitted that the prayer to quash the first information report cannot be accepted because the allegation in the first information report is with regard to harassment of the deceased in connection with demand of dowry and the allegations are against all accused persons and, even otherwise, once it is provided that the deceased had died unnatural death, due to burn injuries, the petitioners being close relatives of the husband of the deceased are liable to be prosecuted for all the offences concerned.
Be that as it may, looking to the statement of the deceased in the dying declaration, without expressing any opinion as to for which offence the petitioners could be charged with, we deem it appropriate to dispose off this petition by providing that the investigation shall continue and be brought to its logical conclusion but, subject to petitioners' cooperation in the investigation, they shall not be arrested in the aforesaid case till submission of police report under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C.
Order Date :- 25.2.2019/AKShukla/-