2023 Supreme(Online)(Del) 17989
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
RAJAN DEVI – Appellant
Versus
STATE (GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI) & ANR. – Respondent
CRL.M.C.-2159/2020
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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Reserved on: 04.09.2023 Pronounced on: 13.09.2023 + CRL.M.C. 2159/2020 RAJAN DEVI ..... Petitioner Through: Mr. Tarun Gupta and Mr.
Anmol Mishra, Advocates.
versus STATE (GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI) & ANR. .. Respondents Through: Mr. Manoj Pant, APP for the State with WSI Sanju Kumari, PS Palam Village.
Mr. Nonu S. Khera, Senior Advocate alongwith Mohd. Ahsan Khanji, Advocate for R-
2 CORAM:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE SWARANA KANTA SHARMA
JUDGMENT
Index to the Judgment FACTUAL BACKGROUND .............................................................................. 2 ARGUMENTS ADDRESSED BY BOTH THE PARTIES ............................. 6 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ............................................................................. 9 USE OF DEROGATORY LANGUAGE IN PLEADINGS ........................... 14 i. Necessity of Reasonable Diligence While Drafting Pleadings ................. 18 ii. Balancing the Use of „Strong Language‟ with the Cause of Justice ......... 19 CONCLUSION AND DIRECTIONS .............................................................. 21 Signature Not Verified CRL.M.C.2159/2020 Page 1 of 23 Digitally Signed SWARANA KANTA SHARMA, J.
1. The present petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘Cr.P.C’) has been filed by the petitioner seeking setting aside of order dated 13.10.2020, passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge-02, South-West, Dwarka Courts, Delhi (‘learned ASJ’) in B.M.4006/2020 whereby anticipatory bail has been granted to accused/respondent no. 2.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
2. Brief facts of the case are that the present FIR bearing no. 574/2020 was registered on 19.08.2020 under Sections 376/506 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’) at Police Station Palam Vihar, on the basis of a complaint lodged by the petitioner/complainant alleging therein that respondent no. 2 had committed rape upon her on false pretext of marriage and had cheated the complainant. It is alleged that the complainant/petitioner is a single mother of two children and is doing her own business in Punjab, and the respondent no. 2 used to send messages to petitioner on regular basis since August, 2019 on her WhatsApp number, however, she never used to reply to the same. It is stated that the complainant always wanted to settle down in her life and get married to a responsible person as she did not want to involve herself in a fake relationship, and she had conveyed this fact to respondent no. 2. As mentioned in the complaint, the complaint had provided the screenshots of the WhatsApp conversation between her and the accused/respondent no. 2. It is further alleged that in the Signature Not Verified CRL.M.C.2159/2020 Page 2 of 23 Digitally Signed very first audio and video call, she had informed the respondent no. 2 that she has two children, however, the accused always insisted to meet her in person, but the complainant had refused to meet him. It is stated that on 27.10.2019, respondent no. 2 had again started sending WhatsApp messages to her on one pretext or the other and had also started making video calls to her which she never used to answer. He, however, always pressurized her to attend the video calls. It is alleged that respondent no. 2 had allured the complainant and had told her that he was in love with her and wanted to get married to her. She, however, alleges that he had disclosed his name as Akash Thakur and not Ashish Thakur. It is also alleged that she used to visit her native home at Haryana and during that time, respondent no. 2 had made a WhatsApp video call alongwith routine ordinary calls to the complainant and had also spoken to her sister, sister-in-law and her children, and he had tried to convince family members of the complainant that he was interested to get married to her. It is stated that the family members of the complainant had tried to make him understand that his family will not accept the complainant as she already has two children, however, he had con