ANIL DNYANDEV PAWAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With consent of the parties, Application is taken up for final hearing.

(2.) The present proceeding arises from an unfortunate series of events where a young girl, undaunted by familial and societal traditions falls in love with her choice of a partner but lacks courage enough to reveal this relationship to her family. What happens next is not a mystery. Oblivious to their daughters' choice of partner, her parents proceed to arrange her marriage with a man of their choice, mistaking their daughters' silence as her approval. The engagement takes place. The soon to be parents-in-law incur expenditure on printing invitation cards, new clothes, jewelry etc. for the impending marriage. Cometh the eleventh hour, waking up to the reality, the girl jolts out of her stupor and elopes with her paramour. The parents and the in-laws are left to explain her absence. The parents file a missing complaint, but the in-laws lodge an FIR alleging various offences including that of 'cheating' against the girl and her family members. This is the FIR we are to deal with. Whether any cognizable offence is disclosed in the above circumstances, to justify prosecution, is a question that arises for our determination.

(3.) Applicants seek quashing of the R.C.C. No. 3569 of 2022 pending before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Court No. 5, Shivajinagar Court, Pune arising from FIR bearing No. 163 of 2022 dtd. 1/5/2022 registered with Vimantal Police Station, Pune for offences punishable under Ss. 417, 418, 420, 500 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC').