SANSKRITI JAYANTILAL SALIA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard by consent of the parties.

(2.) On 7th May, 2017 one Smt. Dipika Prakash Amin working as Bank Cashier with the Saraswat Cooperative Bank Ltd. Vikhroli, lodged complaint stating therein that on 19.12016 while she was discharging her duties as cashier one Ms. Sanskriti Salia with A/c No.055203100000285 deposited old currency notes to the tune of Rs. 40,500/-. When these notes tendered by the customer, were placed in the Fake Note/Counterfeit Money Detector Machine, three notes of denomination of Rs. 1,000/- and two notes of denomination of Rs. 500/- i.e. total amount of Rs. 4,000/- were found to be counterfeit. On inquiry from Ms. Sanskriti Salia, she informed that the said notes were her saving and in the wake of demonetization she had deposited the said amount. Ms. Sanskriti complied with the directions issued by the Bank authorities and the complaint filed by Smt. Dipika was registered as CR No.22 of 2017 and offences under Section 489(B) of Indian Penal Code ("IPC", for short) came to be registered against Ms. Sanskriti Jayant Salia, who has approached this court praying for quashing of the said FIR.

(3.) The petitioner before us is well educated and has completed postgraduation in commerce. According to the petition, her father is a businessman and she while pursuing her studies, she started working with a company "Enlightned Minds" National English Language Testing & Assessment System at Mulund, in the capacity of Senior Back Office Executive. According to the Petitioner, on 8th November, 2016, the Government of India announced demonetization of old bank notes of Mahatma Gandhi series in the demonetization of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1,000/-. It is the case of the Petitioner that the Government of India issued a notification post demonetization, and the demonetized notes were permitted to be deposited by the concerned holders of the said notes, in their bank account before the deadline, which was stipulated on or before 30th December, 2016. It is specific case of the petitioner that she had saved an amount of Rs. 92,500/- in cash and this was in form of currency of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1,000/-.