ORDER :

1. Leave granted.

2. Both the appeals are being disposed of by the present common order.

3. The present appeals arise out of orders dated (i) 11.11.2022 in Criminal Petition No. 5710 of 2021 (the ‘Impugned Order I’) and (ii) 23.11.2022 in Criminal Petition No. 2768 of 2022 (the ‘Impugned Order II’), passed by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh (collectively referred to as the ‘Impugned Orders’).

4. Vide the Impugned Orders, the High Court refused to quash the Docket Order dated 20.07.2021 which reinitiated criminal proceedings against the Appellants for offences u/s. 420, 498A, 506 of the IPC & u/s. 3, 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

Brief Facts

5. The Appellants before us are the husband and the in-laws of Respondent No. 2 i.e., the de-facto complainant. After the case against the Appellants for the aforementioned offences was instituted, the parties were referred to the Lok Adalat by the Trial Court.

6. As per the Docket Order dated 26.06.2021, the parties entered into a compromise before the Lok Adalat and in consideration of the same, a petition for compounding of the offences was allowed by the Trial Court. Accordingly, the Appellants were acquitted by the Trial Court.

7.