Court No. - 75
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 18870 of 2018 Applicant :- Rakesh Rawat And 5 Others Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Sanjay Tiwari Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Munna Tiwari
Hon'ble Rajiv Gupta,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicants, learned AGA for the State as well as learned counsel for the Opposite Party No.2 and perused the record.
This application under Section 482 CrPC has been filed by the applicants with the prayer to quash the charge- sheet and entire proceedings of Case No. 2588 of 2018 (State Vs. Rakesh Rawat and others), arising out of Case Crime No. 213 of 2017, under Sections 498-A, 323, 504, 506 IPC and Section 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act, Police Station Gorakhnath, District Gorakhpur, pending in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate-Ist, Gorakhpur.
This Court vide its order dated 28.05.2018 has referred the matter to the Mediation Centre in order to enable the parties to reach an amicable settlement, however, Mediation Centre vide its report dated 25.03.2019 has reported that the parties could not reach to any settlement and the mediation has failed.
As per the allegations made in the FIR, it is alleged that the Opposite Party No.2 was married to applicant no.1 on 28.11.2013, however, after the said marriage, applicants started demanding additional dowry and for non-fulfillment of demand of additional dowry, they used to torture, maltreat, assault her and she was also turned out of her matrimonial home.
Learned counsel for the applicants has submitted that from the perusal of the allegations made in the FIR and the material collected during the course of investigation, no offence is disclosed against the applicants and the present prosecution has been instituted with a malafide intention for the purposes of harassment. He has pointed out certain documents and statements in support of his contention.
Per contra, learned AGA has submitted that from the perusal of the allegations made in the FIR and the material collected during the course of investigation, prima facie offence is clearly made out against the applicants and as such, impugned charge-sheet as well as entire proceedings cannot be quashed.
Moreover, all the submissions made at the bar relates to the disputed question of fact, which cannot be adjudicated upon by this Court under Section 482 CrPC. At this stage, only prima facie case is to be seen in the light of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the cases of R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab, AIR 1960 SC 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P.P. Sharma, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 192 and lastly Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq and another, (Para-10) 2005 SCC (Cri.) 283. The disputed defence of the accused cannot be considered at this stage.
The prayer for quashing the impugned charge-sheet as well as entire proceedings is therefore refused.
However, it is directed that if the applicants appear/surrender before the court below within 45 days from today and apply for bail, their prayer for bail shall be considered and decided in view of settled law laid down by this Court in the case of Amrawati and another Vs. State of U.P. reported in 2004 (57) ALR 290 as well as judgment passed by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Lal Kamlendra Pratap Singh Vs. State of U.P. reported in 2009 (3) ADJ 322 (SC).
For a period of 45 days from today or till the applicants surrender and apply for bail, whichever is earlier, no coercive action shall be taken against them. However, in case, the applicants do not appear before the court below within the aforesaid period, coercive action shall be taken against them.
With the aforesaid observations, this application under Section 482 CrPC is finally disposed of.
Order Date :- 27.11.2019 Nadim