NITIN BHARGAV Vs. STATE OF M.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Applicant/accused has preferred this petition under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'The Code'), for quashment of FIR bearing crime No.513/2018, registered at Police Station-Barwah, District-Khargone for commission of offence punishable under Sections 366 and 376(2)(n) of IPC read with Section 3(2)(v) of The Scheduled Castes and The Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act , 1989 (in brevity 'the Act, 1989') and all the consequential proceedings relating thereto.

(2.) Relevant facts briefly stated are that on 29/09/2018 the prosecutrix/respondent No.2 has made a written complaint at Police-station-Barwah, District-Khargone to the effect that she is working as ANM at Community Health Center, Bagod, District- Khargone. In the year 2015, she met with the present applicant in a medical camp organized at Ratanpur, where the applicant told her that she loved her and wanted to marry her. Thereafter, they started to talk to each other on mobile phones, during which the applicant has been transferred to Katkoot. The applicant called the prosecutrix/respondent No.2 at Katkoot and established physical relationship with her on the false promise of marriage and committed rape upon her. The prosecutrix/respondent No.2 constructed her own house at Sanwariya Colony, Barwah and started living there. The applicant used to come to her house at Barwah and made physical relations with her regularly, however, on 17/07/2018, when the applicant came to the house of the prosecutrix, she asked the applicant about their marriage, then he declined to marry her. On the basis of aforesaid compliant, police registered FIR bearing crime No.513/2018, registered at Police Station-Barwah, District-Khargone for commission of offence punishable under Sections 366 and 376(2)(n) of IPC read with Section 3(2)(v) of the Act.

(3.) Learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the prosecutrix is a divorcee lady aged about 30 years and mother of 8 years old girl child. She is working as ANM at Community Health Center-Bagod and she cooked up story that the on the basis of false promise of marriage the applicant committed rape upon her. It is also submitted that much prior to the registration of the said FIR, the applicant made a written complaint on 01/07/2018 to Police-station-Barwah to the effect that the prosecutrix is blackmailing him with a motive to extract money from him and tarnish his image in the Society. Although the police has recorded the statement of the prosecutrix, her x-husband and the applicant, however, no action was taken by the police on the said complaint. It is further submitted that if the entire allegations made in the complaint are taken at their face value and accepted in its entirety, such allegations do not constitute any offence. Under these circumstances, learned counsel for the applicant prays for FIR bearing crime No.513/2018, registered at Police Station-Barwah, District-Khargone for commission of offence punishable under Sections 366 and 376(2)(n) of IPC read with Section 3(2)(v) of the Act and all the consequential proceedings relating thereto. In support of his contention, learned counsel for the applicant placed reliance on the judgments of Hon'ble apex Court passed in the case of Central Bureau of Investigation Vs. Ravi Shankar Shrivastava, IAS and Ors.,AIR 2006 SC 2872, Dr. Dhruvaram Murlidhar Sonar Vs. State of Maharashtra and Others, 2018 SCC SC 3100 and Pramod Suryabhan Pawar Vs. State of Maharashtra and Anr. Passed on 21/08/2019 in Criminal Appeal No. 1165/2019.