LALU YADAV Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted. The captioned Appeal is directed against the order dtd. 26/7/2018 of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Miscellaneous Writ Petition No. 16825 of 2018. The said Writ Petition was filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking quashment of FIR dtd. 21/2/2018 bearing Case Crime No. 28 of 2018 registered under Ss. 376 and 313 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short the 'IPC') at Police Station Nandganj in Ghazipur District of the State of Uttar Pradesh. In view of the fact that quashment of FIR was sought under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, it is relevant to refer to a decision of this Court in Pepsi Foods Ltd. v. Special Judicial Magistrate,(1998) 5 SCC 749. It was held therein that the High Court could exercise its power of judicial review in Criminal matters and it could exercise the power either under Article 226 of the Constitution of India or under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for brevity 'Cr.P.C'), to prevent the abuse of process of the court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice. Nomenclature under which a petition is filed is not quite relevant. If the court finds that the petitioner could not invoke the jurisdiction of the Court under Article 226, it may treat the petition under Sec. 482, Cr. P.C.

(2.) Heard the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned counsel for the State of Uttar Pradesh for respondent Nos. 1 to 3 and also the learned counsel for respondent No. 4 (the complainant).

(3.) The gravamen of her complaint, based on which the above-mentioned crime was registered on 21/2/2018, is revealed from the following allegations made thereunder: -