KULWANT SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) KULWANT Singh and five others have filed the present petition under Section 482, Cr.P.C. praying for the quashment of FIR No. 394 dated 17.7.1998, registered u/ss. 406/498-A, IPC, in Police Station Pehowa, District Kurukshetra, at the instance of Rajbir Kaur, respondent No. 2, who submitted an application to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ambala, and levelled the following allegations :-

(2.) THE petitioners are seeking quashment of the FIR on the grounds that there are no specific allegations against them; that they have no concern or interest in the demand of dowry as they are living separately; that the FIR has been got registered by the complainant in order to harass the innocent persons by allegedly false allegations; that if all the allegations are taken on its face value, even then, no offence u/s 406/498-A, IPC, is made out; that the articles regarding which the mention has been made in the application of respondent No. 2, are gifts and not dowry articles; that the marriage between the husband and wife is still subsisting and, in these circumstances, the offence u/s 406, IPC, is not, prima facie, made out.

(3.) IT has been repeatedly laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that the remedy u/s 482, Cr.P.C., is an exceptional one and the provisions of section 482, Cr.P.C., are supposed to be invoked in rarest of rare cases. It is also the settled law that there should not be any quashment of the FIR once the FIR discloses a specific offence and while assessing the petition u/s 482, Cr.P.C. filed in the High Court, only the allegations are required to be seen. Also, it is the settled position of law that the High Court is not supposed to embark an inquiry and moreover when the investigation is still going on, the High Court cannot quash the FIR. The inherent powers do not confer any arbitrary jurisdiction on the High Court to act according to its whims or caprice. Moreover, the powers u/s 482, Cr.P.C., cannot and should not be invoked when the matter is specifically covered by the other provisions of the Code. If the petitioners, ultimately, are going to be charge-sheeted under the substantive offence allegedly committed by them, they can argue the matter before the Magistrate who is always competent to discharge the accused from the trial.