IMPORTANT POINT
Quashing of criminal proceeding – Court will not be justified in embarking upon enquiry as to reliability or genuineness or otherwise of allegations made in FIR or complaint.

JUDGMENT :

B.R. GAVAI, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The present criminal appeal challenges the order dated 3rd September 2022, passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru in Criminal Petition No. 8468 of 2021, whereby the High Court allowed the petition filed under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (‘Cr.P.C.’ for short) preferred by the accused persons and quashed the entire proceedings pending against them before the 2nd Additional District and Sessions Judge, Chitradurga (hereinafter referred to as ‘trial court’) in Special Case (SC/ST) No. 1 of 2021

3. Shorn of details, the facts leading to the present appeal are as under:

3.1. The prosecution case is that in the year 2016, while the complainant/appellant was still a minor, having been born on 12th September 1998, accused No.1 after becoming acquainted with the complainant/appellant while they both were preparing for the competitive examination, made her fall in love with him. Thereafter, they entered into a relationship and were intimate with each other. Subsequently, in the year 2019, accused No. 1 took the complainant/appellant to his aunty’s house in Chitradurga whereupon he had sexual intercourse with her, after leading her to believe that he would marry her. A few days thereafter, accused No. 1 took the complainant/appellant to his house near the Gate of Siddapura Village in order to introduce her to his parents. In his family’s absence, accused No. 1 forcibly engaged in sexual intercourse with the complainant/appellant on multiple occasions. As a consequence, the complainant/appellant got pregnant. Six months into the pregnancy, upon gaining knowledge of the same, accused No.1 and his brother accused No.2 forcibly took her to Krishna Nursing Home, Challakere and compelled her to undergo an abortion.

3.2. Subsequently, accused No. 1 reiterated his promise to marry her, however, he stated that such marriage would take place only after he finished his preparation for the Karnataka Administrative Service Examination. He further compelled her to maintain silence by threatening her that if she discloses any information about the termination of her pregnancy to her parents, he would kill her and would also kill himself by consuming poison. Accused No.3 and accused No.4, parents of accused No. 1 also assured the complainant/appellant that she and accused No. 1 would get married after the latter finished with his studies.

3.3. On 22nd September 2020, after the complainant/appellant’s parents became aware of her relationship with accused No. 1 and the termination of her pregnancy, the complainant/appellant along with her parents visited the house of the accused persons with the request that the complainant/appellant and accused No. 1 be married to each other. However, the accused persons turned down the request and asserted that no such marriage would be possible since the complainant/appellant was a prostitute belonging to the Scheduled Caste, Madigha.

3.4. While this version of events was brought out in her original complaint, which was the basis of the First Information Report (“FIR” for short) being Case Crime No. 456 of 2020, lodged on 1st October 2020 at Police Station Challakere, District Chitradurga, the complainant/appellant in her restatement (Annexure P-6) made before the Dy. S.P., Challakere, changed the narrative with respect to the manner in which the termination of pregnancy had been carried out. She clarified that she had not been taken to Krishna Nursing Home. She stated, instead, that accused No. 1 upon gaining knowledge of her pregnancy, had informed her that he would like to continue with his studies and had thereafter brought her Ayurvedic medicine which would cause the termination of her pregnancy. Upon the said medicine being administered to the complainant/appellant by accused No.1, her pregnancy was terminated. The complainant/appellant requested that the restatement be made a part of her original complaint. Accordi