MAHINDRA KUMAR NARENDRA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners feeling aggrieved by the registration of the FIR No.375/2003 at PS Shahdara, Delhi under Section 498-A/406/506/323/34 IPC have filed this Writ petition under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure with the prayer to quash the aforesaid FIR and restrain the respondents from taking any action in pursuance thereof.

(2.) The facts relevant for the disposal of this petition, briefly stated, are that the petitioners are residents of Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad, U.P. Petitioner No.3, who is the son of petitioners No.1 & 2, was married to Ms.Sarabpreet Kaur, respondent No.3, a resident of Delhi. On account of some matrimonial disputes between petitioner No.3 and respondent No.3, FIR No.474/2003 dated 9.7.2003 was registered at PS Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad, U.P. on the basis of a complaint filed by respondent No.3. The said FIR was transferred to Delhi and thereafter, registered as FIR No.375 of 2003 at PS Shahdara, Delhi. The petitioners allege that the transfer of the FIR and the registration thereof at Delhi was an abuse of the process of law and as such, was liable to be quashed. It is pleaded that Police at Ghaziabad, U.P. had no powers or authority to transfer the FIR, which was registered at PS Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad.

(3.) It is also pointed out by the petitioners that after marriage, the petitioner No.3 and his wife respondent No.3 had stayed at Ghaziabad for few days and thereafter on 24.2.2002, they left for Bahrain as petitioner No.3 was working there for the last about 10 years. They came back from Bahrain after about 1 year and reached India on 3.7.2003. On the same date, the wife Sarabpreet Kaur, respondent No.3 left for her parents' house at Shahdara and on the morning of 4.7.2003, the petitioner No.3 went back to Bahrain to join his duty. On 9.7.2003 the wife respondent No.3 filed FIR at Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad, U.P., on the basis of which petitioner No.1 was arrested. He was released on bail on 14.7.2003. The petitioner No.2 also surrendered before the Court and was released on bail on 18.7.2003. In October, 2003, the petitioners were approached by Police personnel from Delhi as well as some Police officials from Ghaziabad that FIR No.375/2003 had been registered at Delhi and thereafter, on inquiries, they came to know that the Police authorities at Ghaziabad had ordered transfer of the FIR and investigations to Delhi. It is pleaded that the registration of FIR at Shahdara, Delhi is without jurisdiction, illegal and actuated with malafides of the complainant to blackmail and pressurize the petitioners. In the Status Report filed on behalf of the State, it is stated that the FIR No.474/2003 registered at PS Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad, was transferred to Delhi as the complainant was apprehending danger to her life while going to U.P. to attend the case. It is also pointed out that the FIR lodged at Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad disclosed that after coming back from Bahrain, the husband of the complainant had brought her to her parental house at Shahdara, Delhi and asked her parents that she should be sent to her matrimonial home only when they were able to give Rs.3 lacs. On 9.7.2003, when the complainant went to her matrimonial home at Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad, she came to know that her husband had already left for Bahrain. Her in-laws did not allow her to enter the matrimonial home and she was given beatings also. It is clarified that no fresh case has been registered by Delhi Police and only a new number has been given to the old FIR, which was being investigated by U.P. Police. On the request of the petitioners' counsel, the case file was produced before the Court and it was shown that the orders for transferring the FIR from Ghaziabad to Delhi were on the ground that the complainant was making a request for transfer of the FIR and also for the reason that part of the cause of action had arisen within the jurisdiction of Delhi Courts.