JASMEET KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked under Sec. 528 of Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as 'BNSS') seeking quashing of FIR No. 64, dtd. 17/7/2024, under Sec. 406 IPC, registered at Police Station Women, Jalandhar (Annexure P-4) along-with all consequential proceedings arising therefrom.

(2.) The principal contention put forth by the counsel for the petitioner is that the impugned FIR represents a manifest abuse of the legal process, given that the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 came into effect on 1/7/2024, while the FIR in question was registered on 17/7/2024 under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. As the married sister-inlaw of respondent No. 2-complainant, petitioners No. 1 and 2 are said to have no influence over the day-to-day operations of their paternal household. Since nothing was entrusted to petitioners No. 1 and 2, they cannot be held criminally accountable for the contested FIR, which was filed under Sec. 406 IPC, which requires theft and breach of trust. The assertion is that because petitioners No. 3 and No. 4 have already lost their young son and are not in a position to fight a legal battle in their later years, it is argued on their behalf that the allegations are utterly ludicrous, vicious, and far-fetched. As a result, the petitioners cannot be subjected to the ordeal of a criminal trial.

(3.) Learned State counsel is not in a position to controvert the factual aspect as to whether the impugned FIR has been registered on 017/7/2024 under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 instead of BNSS, 2023, which has come into force on 1/7/2024