Arihant Jain vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others

Pankaj Purohit, J

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

By means of the present writ petition, petitioner has put to challenge the First Information Report No.156 of 2024 dated 06.04.2024, under Sections 323, 498-A & 504 IPC, registered with Police Station Haldwani, District Nainital in view of the compromise entered into between the parties.

Along with present criminal writ petition, a joint compounding application signed by both the petitioner and respondent no.3 has been filed, which is duly supported by separate affidavits of the parties.

It is stated in the compounding application that petitioner and respondent no.3 are husband and wife and due to misunderstanding, the first information report has been lodged by respondent no.3, which is impugned in the present writ petition. Now, the parties have entered into compromise and they want to settle their misunderstanding and live a peaceful life, therefore, the first information report may be quashed on the basis of the aforesaid compromise.

Petitioner-Arihant Jain (husband) and respondent no.3-Pallavi Mishra (wife) are present before this Court, duly identified by their respective counsel.

Learned State Counsel submits that Section 498-A IPC is non-compoundable offence.

Having heard learned counsel for the parties and having perused the compounding application and after interacting with the parties, this Court is of the opinion that there is no useful purpose to carry on the investigation or the criminal proceedings against the petitioner-husband once they have settled their dispute and want to lead peaceful life as husband and wife.

Since the dispute in the impugned FIR is matrimonial in nature, therefore, in terms of the judgment of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of B.S.Joshi & others v. State of Haryana & Anr reported in (2003) 4 SCC 675, the compounding application (IA No.1/2024) is allowed. Accordingly, the impugned FIR is hereby quashed and all subsequent proceedings pursuant to the impugned FIR automatically shall come to an end.

Pending application, if any, stands disposed of accordingly.