JUDGMENT :

Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J.

1. While exercising the jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973,¹[“CrPC”], a Single Judge of the High Court of Karnataka quashed (i) a complaint dated 6 December 2016; and (ii) the proceedings initiated pursuant to the complaint. The proceedings which have been quashed were registered as Crime No. 565 of 2016 on 7 December 2016 at Police Station Maddur, Mandya District, Karnataka and pending on the file of the IInd Additional Civil Judge (Junior Division) and JMFC Maddur. The complainant, at whose behest the First Information Report,²[“FIR”] was registered for an offence punishable under Section 306 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code 1860,³[“IPC”], and the State of Karnataka are in appeal against the judgment of the High Court dated 29 May 2020. The Single Judge was persuaded to quash the proceedings on the ground that the continuation of the prosecution “would [be] a travesty of justice and be a sheer waste of time”, besides requiring the accused-respondent “to undergo the rigors of a lengthy trial”.

A. Facts

2. On 6 December 2016, a complaint was lodged at Maddur Police Station at 20:00 hours by the