SMT. POONAM BATRA Vs. SH. DARSHAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this petition under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 Smt. Poonam Batra has sought for the quashing of the criminal proceedings initiated by the respondent through a complaint in which the petitioner has been summoned by the trial Magistrate for the offences under sections 403/406, Indian Penal Code vide his order dated April 21, 1980.

(2.) WITHOUT going into the details of the complaint, in substance the allegations therein amount to this that the petitioner who was formerly married to the son of the complainant, borrowed Rs. 14,000/ - from the complainant for the purchase of an Ambassador car for her husband. It is alleged that after the death of her husband Mahabir Singh, the petitioner got remarried with some other person but she did not return the amount of Rs. 14,000/ - to the complainant. From these allegations, the trial Court found that offences under sections 403/406, Indian Penal Code, were made out against the accused and accordingly he summoned the petitioner. Even if the allegations in the complaint are taken at their face value then too what it discloses is that the lending of the amount by the respondent to the petitioner may be a case of contract and if the same was not repaid it can only give rise to a civil liability as a result of breach of contract.

(3.) UNDER these circumstances, this petition is allowed and the complaint filed by Darshan Singh respondent against the petitioner and the proceedings initiated thereunder pending in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Chandigarh, are hereby quashed.