Sarita Alias Sarita Seth and Another v. State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Lko. and Another

Court No. - 16 Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 1305 of 2024 Petitioner :- Sarita Alias Sarita Seth And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Lko. And Another Counsel for Petitioner :- Nripendra Mishra,Dinesh Kumar Mishra Counsel for Respondent :- G.A. Hon'ble Shamim Ahmed,J. Case is taken up in the revised list. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. The instant application under Section 227 Cr.P.C. has been moved by the applicants with a prayer to set aside the impugned order dated 29.02.2024 passed by the learned Addl. District & Sessions Judge, Court No. 15, Lucknow, in Criminal Revision No. 401 of 2023, Smt. Sarita alias Sarita Seth and another v. State of U.P. & anr., and order dated 02.06.2023 passed by the learned Addl. Judicial Magistrate-III, Court No. 27, Lucknow, in Complaint Case No. 661 of 2020, Piyush Kumar Seth v. Sarita & ors., annexed as Annexure Nos. 1 and 2 to the present application. This matter was sent for mediation vide order dated 15.03.2024. As per report of the Mediator, dated 10.05.2024, mediation between the parties has failed. Report of the mediator is as follows: "Mediation completed. No agreement". Learned counsel for the applicants submits that the applicants are reputed person in the society and they have been falsely implicated in the present case due to family fued. He further submits that the impugned proceedings pending before the learned trial court are totally arbitrary and illegal and the same have been instituted without considering the material evidence available on record. Thus, he submits that entire criminal proceedings initiated against the applicants may be quashed. Learned counsel for the applicants also prays for permission to appear through counsel before the concerned trial court within a period of three weeks from today and move an application claiming discharge on behalf of the applicants and this Court may direct the trial court to decide the application so moved by the applicants. Learned A.G.A. has disputed the aforesaid contentions made by learned counsel for the applicants but he has not opposed the request made by learned counsel for the applicants to move a discharge application before the trial court through counsel. All the contentions raised by the applicants' counsel relate to disputed questions of fact. The court has also been called upon to adjudge the testimonial worth of prosecution evidence and evaluate the same on the basis of various intricacies of factual details which have been touched upon by learned counsel. The veracity and credibility of material furnished on behalf of the prosecution has been questioned and false implication has been pleaded. In the process of invoking its inherent jurisdiction, this court cannot be persuaded to have a pre trial before the actual trial begins. The submissions made by the learned counsel call for adjudication on pure questions of fact which may be adequately adjudicated upon only by the trial court and while doing so even the submissions made on points of law can also be more appropriately gone into by the trial court in this case. The quashing of the charge sheet and the entire proceedings can also be done only if it does not disclose any offence or if there is any legal bar which prohibits the proceedings on its basis. The Apex Court decisions in the case of R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab AIR 1960 SC 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal 1992 SCC(Cr.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P.P. Sharma, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 192 and also in Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq and another, (Para-10) 2005 SCC (Cri.) 283 make the position of law in this regard clear. In the absence of any of the grounds recognized by the Apex Court which might justify the quashing of charge sheet/summoning order/impugned proceedings, the prayer for quashing the same is refused as I do not see any abuse of the courts process either. The trial court has been vested with sufficient powers to discharge the accused even before the stage to frame the charges comes, if for reasons to be recorded it considers the charge to be groundless. As requested by learned counsel for the applicants, the permission to appear through counsel before the concerned trial court within a period of three weeks from today and move an application claiming discharge on behalf of whom this application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been moved, is granted. The concerned trial court shall after hearing the counsel decide the application on merits in accordance with law within a period which shall not exceed a period of two months from today. It is further directed that the amount of Rs. 10,000.00 (Ten thousand only) deposited in compliance of order dated

15.03.2024, shall be paid to the Library, Oudh Bar Association, Lucknow Bench, for the purposes of purchasing books for the Junior Advocates. The Mediation and Conciliation Center is directed to transmit the said money in the account of Oudh Bar Association, Lucknow Bench, within 15 days from today. Office is directed to give a copy of this order to the Secretary of the Oudh Bar Association, Lucknow Bench, for necessary compliance. (Shamim Ahmed, J.) Order Date :- 11.7.2024 A.Nigam High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench