Hon'ble Mrs. Saroj Yadav,J.
Heard Sri Alok Singh, learned Counsel for the petitioners, Sri S.P. Singh, learned AGA for the State/respondents no. 1 to 4, Sri D.R. Mishra, who has put in appearance on behalf of respondent no.5/complainant and perused the material on record.
Sri D.R. Mishra, learned Counsel for the complainant/respondent no.5 submits that he will file vakalatnama on behalf of the respondent no.5 in the Registry of this Court during the course of the day.
In case Sri D.R. Mishra, learned Counsel files vakalatnama on behalf of the respondent no.5, Registry shall place it on record.
This writ petition has been filed by the petitioners, Smt. Vibha Shukla (now Dwivedi), Tulsidas Dwivedi @ Navneet Dubey, seeking a writ of certiorari to quash the First Information Report dated 21.07.2021 registered as F.I.R. No.0233 of 2021, under Sections 363, 366 I.P.C., Police Station Katra Bazar, District Gonda and also prays for a direction to the prosecuting agency not to arrest the petitioners in pursuance of the aforesaid F.I.R.
Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the prosecutrix/petitioner no.1-Smt. Vibha Shukla and petitioner no.2-Tulsidas Dwivedi alias Navneet Dubey are major and, as such, they have performed marriage out of free will on 24.07.2021 in Arya Samaj Mandir, Sector-H, Aliganj, Lucknow, a copy of which has been annexed as Annexure-4 to the writ petition. He also submits that as per the impugned F.I.R. itself, the petitioner no.1 is aged about 20 years and further as per High School Certificate (Annexure No. 3), the date of birth of the petitioner no.1 is 12.12.1998. He further argued that the petitioner no.1 had voluntarily left her parental home and entered into matrimonial alliance with petitioner no.2 and also the petitioner no.1 is a major girl, it cannot be said that any cognizable offence against the petitioner nos.1 and 2 is made out, hence the impugned FIR is liable to be quashed.
Learned counsel for the petitioners further submits that as the petitioner nos.1 and 2 are major and they have voluntarily married, then to conceive in view of the judgment of Apex Court rendered in Criminal Appeal No. 1142 of 2013 (Sachin Pawar vs. State of U.P) decided on 02.08.2013), that, offence has been committed under Section 363 I.P.C., cannot be approved of.
Per contra, learned AGA submitted that the impugned FIR is not liable to be quashed on the basis of the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioners. However, learned AGA has not been able to demonstrate that either the prosecutrix/petitioner no.1 was minor on the date of the incident or that she had been kidnapped or abducted by the petitioner no.2, therefore, it cannot be said that the petitioner nos.1 and 2 have committed any cognizable offence.
Learned Counsel for complainant/respondent no.5 also did not dispute the fact that at the time of the incident, the prosecutrix/petitioner no.1 is not major.
Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, particularly the fact that both the petitioners are major and they solemnized marriage out of free-will and keeping in view the law laid down by the Apex Court in Sachin Pawar vs. State of U.P (supra), we allow the writ petition and quash the impugned FIR and all subsequent proceedings taken against the petitioners in pursuance thereof.
The party shall file computer generated copy of order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by it alongwith a self attested identity proof of the said person(s) (preferably Aadhar Card) mentioning the mobile number(s) to which the said Aadhar Card is linked, before the concerned Court/Authority/Official.
The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of the computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
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(Saroj Yadav, J.) (Ramesh Sinha, J.) Order Date :- 29.7.2021 Ajit/-