Parties involved in a criminal case under section 498-A IPC, upon reconciliation, are entitled to seek withdrawal of the prosecution by presenting an application to the criminal court for the Public Prosecutor's consideration and subsequent withdrawal from prosecution.

JUDGMENT :

1. Through the present case, this Court is seizing an occasion and opportunity to examine the legal position that it is not possible/feasible for a complainant wife and an accused husband in a given criminal case under trial for the commission of offence under section 498-A Indian Penal Code and other related offences, to join together and call upon the Public Prosecutor conducting the prosecution to exercise his authority to withdraw from the prosecution so as to sub-serve the interest of justice when a complainant/wife amicably reconciles her matrimonial differences and grievances with and against her accused husband and his relatives thereby intend to end the criminal case initiated upon her complaint/first information report before the very criminal court seized of the trial of the case.

2. By filing the present petition invoking the inherent power of this court available under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short, “CrPC”), the petitioners no. 1 and 2, being wife and husband, have joined together for seeking quashment of a criminal case under trial, based upon the police report no. 57 of 2020 submitted by the Police Station, Janipur, Jammu, against the petitioner no. 2-husband and his relatives, for alleged commission of offences under section 498-A and 406 Indian Penal Code (in short ‘IPC’) which is pending trial before the Court of Municipal Magistrate, Jammu.

3. It is an FIR no. 64 of 2020 dated 19.08.2020 registered by the Police Station, Janipur, Jammu that resulted in presentation of a final Police Report no. 57 of 2020 dated 30.12.2020 under section 498-A and 406 IPC against the named accused who being the petitioner no. 2 (husband) and his relatives before the court of Municipal Magistrate Jammu.

4. The alleged commission of offences had occasioned from the matrimonial relationship obtaining between the petitioners on account of the marriage solemnized between them on 03.11.2019 at Amritsar and out of which no issue came to be born to the petitioner no. 1.

5. In this state of matrimonial discord, a course of cross litigation came to be set into effect against each other by the petitioners, some of which got initiated in Jalandhar being the place of the parental residence of the petitioner no. 2 (Husband) and in Jammu being the parental place of the petitioner no. 1 (Wife).

6. During the pendency of the aforesaid proceedings, better sense prevailed to the petitioners and their respective relatives to amicably end the acrimony afflicting both sides and to let the petitioners opt for a marital separation in an amicable manner so as to relieve each other from the burden of matrimonial bond and burden.

7. This resulted in presentation of a petition for dissolution of marriage by decree of divorce by mutual consent under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 before the Principal Family Court, Jammu. This petition came to be presented by the petitioners on 05.02.2022 in terms whereof the petitioners came to settle modalities of their separation to end their marriage and one of the outcomes of the said mutual understanding is to end said criminal case going on against the petitioner no. 2-husband and his family members before the Court of Municipal Magistrate, Jammu.

8. It is for this purpose that the petitioners were constrained to approach this Court with the present petition for seeking quashment of the aforesaid criminal case having no other option and forum at their disposal to end the aforesaid criminal case particularly by making a plea to the trial court of Municipal Magistrate, Jammu given the fact that while the offence under section 406 IPC though compoundable at the instance of the complainant, that being the petitioner no. 1-wife, requiring the permission of the criminal court seized of the trial but the offence under section 498-A IPC being non-compoundable leaves no option for trial court to entertain the settlement arrived at between the parties and end the criminal case m