Court No. - 45
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 25720 of 2019 Petitioner :- Rekha And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Sanjeev Kumar Khare Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble B. Amit Sthalekar,J. Hon'ble Shekhar Kumar Yadav,J.
Supplementary affidavit filed today is taken on record.
Heard Sri Sanjeev Kumar Khare, learned counsel for the petitioner and learned AGA for the State.
The petitioners in the writ petition are seeking quashing of the FIR dated 28.11.2019 registered as Case Crime No. 168 of 2019 under Section 366, 504 IPC, Police Station Dodi Fatehpur, District Jhansi with a further prayer not to arrest the petitioners in pursuance of the said FIR.
As per the version of the FIR, on 27.11.2019 at about 4:00 PM, the daughter of the Complainant, Km. Rekha aged about 21 years was enticed by Raghuveer and ran away with him. She also took with her one lakh rupees and her Aadhar Card.
We have perused the documents on record. Copy of the marksheet of High School issued by the Board of High School and Intermediate Education, U.P. of the petitioner no. 1 has been filed as Annexure-2 to the writ petition, wherein the date of birth of petitioner no. 1 has been mentioned as 05.01.1997. Copy of the marksheet of High School issued by the Board of High School and Intermediate Education, U.P. of the petitioner no. 2 has also been filed as Annexure-2 to the writ petition which shows the date of birth of the petitioner no. 2 as 01.05.1998. Thus it is amply clear that both the petitioners are major.
The petitioner no.1-Smt. Rekha and the petitioner no.2- Raghuveer Singh are present in the court and have been identified by their counsel. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that both the petitioners are major and they have solemnized their marriage according to the Hindu ritual through Arya Samaj on 03.12.2019. Copy of the Marriage certificate issued by the Arya Samaj has been filed as Annexure-3 to the writ petition.
The Supreme Court in its judgement passed in Civil Appeal No. 4532 of 2018 (Suhani and another Vs. State of U.P. and others) has held as under:
"Considering the findings of physical, dental and radiological examinations we are of the considered opinion that the bone age of petitioner Miss. Suhani is between 19 - 24 years. In view of the conclusion arrived at by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, we are of the considered opinion that the petitioner no 1 is a major and the High Court was not correct in directing her to stay in Nari Niketan, Allahabad. The petitioner no. 1 admits the factum of marriage, before us. Therefore, she is entitled to accompany the petitioner no. 2, who is her husband.
In view of our conclusion that she is an adult and she had gone voluntarily with the petitioner no. 2 and entered into wedlock, the criminal proceedings initiated under section 363, 366 of the Indian Penal Court against the petitioner no. 2 stands quashed. We have passed this order of quashing the proceedings to do complete justice."
In the present case, it is not disputed between the parties that the petitioner no. 1-Smt. Rekha is major aged about 22 years and her age has also been mentioned in the F.I.R. as 21 years. We have examined the girl petitioner no. 1 and she stated that her age is 22 years and she had married the petitioner no. 2 out of her own free will and wants to live with him.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and keeping in view the law as laid down by the Supreme Court rendered in the case of Suhani (supra) as well as the fact that both the petitioners are major and the victim/girl has married with the petitioner no. 2 out of her own volition, we therefore, quash the impugned F.I.R.
The writ petition stands allowed.
Order Date :- 17.12.2019 Kirti