Saurabh Pandey & Others vs State Of Uttarakhand & Another

Pankaj Purohit, J

By means of the present C528 application, applicants have sought the indulgence of this Court for quashing the entire criminal proceedings of Criminal Case No.1589 of 2022, State vs. Saurabh Pandey & others, under Sections 323, 504, 506, 498-A of IPC and Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, pending in the court of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Haldwani, District Nainital on the basis of the compromise entered into between the parties.

Along with present C528 application, a joint compounding application (IA No.1/2024) has been filed by the parties. In the compounding application, it is stated that the parties have settled the dispute amicably and the applicant no.1-husband and respondent no.2-wife want to get separate by taking mutual divorce for which an Original Suit No.451 of 2024, Saurabh Pandey & others vs. Pooja Bhatt, under Section 13 (B) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 has also been filed before the learned Judge, Family Court, Haldwani, District Nainital, in which, the date of second motion is fixed on 19.12.2024.

Applicant no.1-husband, applicant no.2-Father-in-law & applicant no.3-mother-in-law are present before this Court, duly identified by their respective counsel. Respondent no.2-wife is also present through V.C. duly identified by her counsel.

Having heard learned counsel for the parties and going through the affidavits filed in support of the joint compounding application, it transpires that the parties have settled their dispute and they have filed the petition for mutual divorce, which is pending consideration and the date of second motion fixed on 19.12.2024 before the learned Judge, Family Court, Haldwani, District Nainital. It is one of the stipulations in the application filed under Section 13(B) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 that for mutual divorce, the respondent no.2-informant will take back all the cases pending against the applicants.

In this view of the matter, there will be no useful purpose for keeping this criminal case pending and it will be a futile exercise to ask the applicants to appear before the court below as accused to face the trial.

In this view of the matter, Compounding Application is allowed. Consequently, the cognizance order dated 18.04.2022 as well as the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No.1589 of 2022, State v. Saurabh Pandey & others, pending in the Court of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Haldwani, District Nainital, are hereby quashed. Resultantly, FIR No.0252 of 2021 dated 30.10.2021 registered at Police Station Kathgodam, District Nainital, under Sections 323, 504, 506 & 498-A IPC and Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, pursuant to which Charge Sheet dated 19.01.2022 was filed and the said charge-sheet shall stand quashed.

C528 application stands disposed of accordingly

Pending application, if any, also stands disposed of.