Sudhir Singh and 4 Others v. State of U.P. and 3 Others

Court No. - 45 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 12272 of 2023 Petitioner :- Sudhir Singh And 4 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Arvind Mishra,Kuldeep Singh Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Pawankumar Dubey Hon'ble Vivek Kumar Birla,J. Hon'ble Vinod Diwakar,J.

¶1Heard Shri Kuldeep Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners, Shri Ratan Singh, learned A.G.A. for the State-respondents, Shri Pawan Kumar Dubey, learned counsel for the informant, and perused the record.

¶2The present writ petition has been preferred with the prayer to quash the impugned First Information Report dated 16.4.2023 registered as Case Crime No.160 of 2023, under Sections 498-A, 323 IPC and 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act, P.S. Nigohi, District Shahjahanpur, and for a direction to the respondents not to arrest the petitioners in pursuance of impugned FIR.

¶3Vide order dated 7.8.2023, the matter was referred to Mediation Centre. As per mediation report dated 11.10.2023, the amount of Rs.25,000/- as directed by this Court was not deposited.

¶4Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners are not in a position to deposit the amount, and therefore, the matter may be heard on merits.

¶5We, therefore, proceed to hear the matter on merits.

¶6Although prayer for quashing of FIR has been made but without insisting on the same only submission is that all alleged offences are punishable with imprisonment upto seven years, therefore, the police authorities are bound to follow the procedure laid down under Section 41-A Cr.P.C. The petitioners have been wrongly implicated and could not be arrested. Reliance has been placed on the judgement of Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar Vs. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273 and Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar Vs. Union of India, Ministry of Law and Justice and others in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 73 of 2015 with Criminal Appeal No. 1265 of 2017 Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 156 of 2017 and in Satendra Kumar Antil vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and Another (2022) 10 SCC 51 and co-ordinate Division Bench of this Court in Vimal Kumar & 3 others Vs. State of U.P. & 3 others in 2021 (2) ACR 1147.

¶7We have gone through the impugned first information report and we are of the opinion that the guidelines framed by the Apex Court in the above noted judgement are equally applicable to the facts of the instant case.

¶8Accordingly, the instant petition also stands disposed off in terms of the judgements as noted above. Order Date :- 13.12.2023 Anil K. Sharma (Vinod Diwakar, J.) (Vivek Kumar Birla, J.) High Court of Judicature at Allahabad