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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN BENCH AT JAIPUR
SUDESH BANSAL, J.
Smt Mamta W/o Shri Kartar Singh – Appellant
Versus
State of Rajasthan - Respondent
S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous (Petition) No. 6706 of 2015, S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 79 of 2018
Decided on : 09-01-2024
FIR Quashing - Abuse of Process of Law - Section 482 Cr.P.C. - [FALSE INFORMATION] - [ABUSE OF PROCESS OF LAW] - [Sections 420, 466, 468, 471, 193 and 218 IPC] - The court discussed the legal provisions under Sections 193 and 466 IPC, the abuse of process of law, and the inherent powers of the High Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the FIR and criminal proceedings. The court found that the registration of the impugned FIR against the petitioner was in clear abuse of process of law and exercised its inherent powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the impugned FIR and all criminal proceedings emanating therefrom.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner sought to quash the FIR and all criminal proceedings emanating therefrom, which were registered against her for producing a false document in judicial proceedings. The allegations against the petitioner were related to issuing a certificate containing false information about the age and number of children of an accused person.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the registration of the impugned FIR against the petitioner was in clear abuse of process of law. It exercised its inherent powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the impugned FIR and all criminal proceedings emanating therefrom.
Issues: The issues included the abuse of process of law, the legality of registering the impugned FIR, and the exercise of inherent powers of the High Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the impugned FIR was registered in clear abuse of process of law and exercised its inherent powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the impugned FIR and all criminal proceedings emanating therefrom.
Final Decision: The court quashed the FIR and all criminal proceedings emanating therefrom, and directed a copy of the order to be sent to the trial Court to close the proceedings of the present criminal case.
ORDER :
1. Both these petitions have been preferred by the petitioner-Smt. Mamta, invoking inherent powers of the High Court envisaged under Section 482 Cr.P.C., seeking to quash the FIR No.253/2015 registered at Police Station Ashok Nagar, Jaipur for offences under Sections 420, 466, 468, 471, 193 and 218 IPC so also to quash all criminal proceedings emanating therefrom including filing of the charge-sheet and framing of charges for such offences in Criminal case No.323/2016 titled State Vs. Mamta Gurjar pending before the Court of Additional Civil Judge and Metropolitan Magistrate No.11, Jaipur Metropolitan I.
2. As per current status report, in the present criminal case after framing charges on 03.02.2017, the case is pending at the stage of prosecution evidence.
3. The factual matrix of the case, as culled out from the record, in nutshell, is that:
3.1 One FIR No.93/2014 for offences under Sections 354, 420, 384 IPC was registered by one Ms. Nidhi Sahu at Police Station Pratap Nagar, Jaipur City (East) against her Guru Shri. Gaurakhi Nagar levelling an allegation that she came in contact to Shri Gaurakhi Nagar through her parents and she was sent from Datiya (MP) to Jaipur with Guruji Shri Gaurakhi Nagar by her parents for undergoing studies of M. Pharma. Shri Gaurakhi Nagar, was a person to be trusted because he was her Guruji, hence, under such belief, Guruji, took her from Jaipur to Bayana and got her signatures on few papers and also in a register. Thereafter, she came back to Datiya (MP) to live with her mother. On 16.01.2014, Guruji-Shri Gaurakhi Nagar came at her house and caught her so also did some other obscene acts stating that they are married now as have entered into marriage with each other at Bayana. Hence, she made a complaint. On such complaint of Ms. Nidhi Sahu, after investigation by the Police, offences under Sections 420, 384, 376 were prima facie found proved against accused Shri Gaurakhi Nagar and he was arrested. Charge-sheet was filed against him. It appears that the accused Shri Gaurakhi Nagar for seeking release on bail, moved one S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No.5550/2015 before the Rajasthan High Court at Jaipur Bench. In that petition, some factual dispute arose about age, marital status of Mr. Gaurakhi Nagar so also about number of children he already had, hence, learned Single Judge of the High Court vide order dated 21.07.2015 directed the Public Prosecutor to ask the Investigating Officer to find out age of the present petitioner i.e. Shri Gaurakhi Nagar, about his marital status, so also to ascertain as to how many children, he already had.
3.2 It appears that under such directions of the High Court dated 21.07.2015 to make an enquiry to ascertain the correct facts about the age, number of children so also the marital status of Shri Gaurakhi Nagar with his wife, the concerned Investigating Officer deputed one head constable Shri Sagarmal, who visited the original residence place of accused Mr. Gaurkahi Nagar, Village Bajna and collected certain documents like a certificate dated 24.07.2015 from petitioner Smt. Mamta, the then Sarpanch of village Bajna, on the letter head of Gram Panchayat, Bajna; photocopy of one Talaqnama executed between Mr.Gaurkahi Nagar and his wife smt. Rama Devi; a letter No.725 dated 24.07.2015 from the office of Nagar Palika, Bayana; copy of ration card etc. That apart, the Investigating Officer also collected additional documents of voters list from the website of Election Commission; Bank statements from Axis Bank and ICICI Bank pertaining to accused-Gaurakhi Nagar. On the basis of such collected documents, the Investigating Officer presented factual report dated 28.07.2015 before the Public Prosecutor to be presented before the High court in the proceedings of S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No.5550/2015. It was opined in the factual report that a certificate dated 24
The main legal point established in the judgment is the abuse of process of law and the exercise of inherent powers of the High Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the impugned FIR and all crimi....
The court emphasized that criminal proceedings cannot be initiated for civil disputes, and jurisdiction is essential for the validity of an FIR.
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The main legal point established in the judgment is that unsubstantiated allegations, delay in filing a complaint, and discrepancies in the complainant's documents may lead to the quashing of the ord....
A petition for quashing criminal proceedings can be dismissed even if one accused has died, as long as there is no legal bar to continuing against the living accused and factual disputes should not b....
The court emphasized that successive FIRs regarding the same incident are impermissible and quashed the FIR based on concealment of previous complaints and forum shopping, affirming the requirement o....
Exercise of jurisdiction under Section 482 of the CrPC for quashing an FIR should be sparingly and carefully exercised, and the court cannot examine disputed questions of fact at this stage.
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