BINU CHACKO Vs. SONIYA JOSE M.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner herein is the accused in crime No. 478/2013 of Peravoor Police Station, Kannur district. It is now pending as C.C. No. 822/2014 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kuthuparamba. The offences alleged against the petitioner are those under Sections 498A, 406, 341, 323 of IPC. The case of the prosecution is that the marriage between the petitioner and the 1st respondent - de facto complainant took place on 18.6.2009 and that during her stay with the accused, he ill -treated the de facto complainant cruelly and asked for more gold and money and thus cruelty was effected both mentally and physically and that the accused misused the gold ornaments of the de facto complainant and that thereby committed the alleged offences. The petitioner submits that he is innocent of all the allegations and that in the meanwhile, the disputes between the petitioner and the 1st respondent have been amicably settled in the mediation held before this Court and the marriage between them has been agreed to be dissolved and that now they are living separately and that as per the terms of the mediation agreement, the petitioner and the 1st respondent has filed joint petition before the Family Court, Ernakulam, as O.P. No. 1727/2014 and out of the total amount agreed to be paid, an amount of Rs. 10,00,000/ - was paid on 11.9.2014, on which date, joint petition for divorce was filed. The 1st respondent - de facto complainant has filed Annexure -AIII memorandum of settlement before this Court in Tr. P(C) No. 231/2014. Annexure AIV is the copy of the receipt having received Rs. 10,00,000/ - as stated above and Annexure -AV is the affidavit sworn to by the 1st respondent stating that the matter has been amicably settled in the presence of the mediator before the Kerala State Mediation and Conciliation Centre and that she has agreed to withdraw the criminal case registered against the petitioner as crime No. 478/2013 of Peravoor Police Station and that she has no subsisting grievance against the petitioner and that she has no objection in quashing all further proceedings against the petitioner in the aforementioned crime, etc. It is in the background of these facts and circumstances of the case that the petitioner has chosen to file the aforementioned Crl. M.C. praying to quash Annexure -AII final report in crime No. 478/2013 of Peravoor Police Station, Kannur district and all further proceedings in C.C. No. 822/2014 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kuthuparamba.

(2.) THE Crl. M.C. has been admitted and Sri. C.A. Chacko has taken notice for the 1st respondent and the learned Public Prosecutor has taken notice for the 2nd respondent -State of Kerala.

(3.) THE learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that during the pendency of the aforementioned criminal proceedings, the matter has been settled amicably between the parties, which is resulted in the subject matter of the aforementioned crime/case and that the continuation of the proceedings in the above case/crime will cause miscarriage of justice to both parties as the real disputants to the case have arrived at an amicable settlement and any further continuation of the criminal proceedings will amount to sheer wastage of time and money and would unnecessarily strain the judicial, administrative and financial resources of the State.