BALAJI 12 February 2016

Can fir 498a after observation period be squashed in hc

Hello Experts, My wife filed an FIR under Sec 498a and DP 3 and 4 on me and my family members. When we agreed to pay the lumpsump money demanded by them, they agreed to close the case. So the police referred the case to Court by removing Sec 3 & 4 and retaining 498a. The criminal court referred the matter to LokAdalat after taking signatures on Compromise petition. Now the case is running in Lokadalat and it gave a time of 3 months as observation period for cloding the case. Now the period of 3 months is over and they are not coming for closing the case. We also did not give the money but it is in a joint bank account. Please let me know if I can apply for Quash of FIR in this situation. If so, what is the process for the saame. There is no chargesheet also filed till now. Thanks.

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5 Replies

Augustine Chatterjee,New Delhi (Advocate & Solicitor at Law) 12 February 2016

No. Unless the consent of the girl is there with you, the FIR cannot be quashed. However this is a valid ground to file for a divorce petition.

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BALAJI 12 February 2016

What if I tell in the LokAdalat that I would like to fight the case (i.e. for trial) as she is not appearing even after 2 to 3 adjournments. Will it be referred to the Criminal court? And if so, can I apply for quash in HC as the chargesheet is still not in place. Thanks.

rts (engg) 12 February 2016

What is sec 3&4 Who told you to put compromised money i n joint bank acc?

rts (engg) 12 February 2016

What is sec 3&4 Who told you to put compromised money i n joint bank acc?

SOLOMON.RAJ (advocate/director) 16 March 2016

Mr. Balaji,

No criminal case can be closed by the jurisdictional court it has to be referred to the Lok adalat by that court . As the case is pending before the lok adalat and after the observatory7 period she has not appeared before thew court all you can do is ask the Lok adalat to issue notice to be present before the copurt on the concerned date and as the money is already deposited in the joint account you may carry a cheque with you to the court so that Aafter making an MOU between both the parties the same may be recorded before the Lok adalat after she gais the trust that you really want to comp[romise by paying the agreed amount she may not come to close the case.

In my practise i have seen that the compromise and settlement of the cases and withdrawal of the criminal cases will be delayed because of the lack of trust. Often the defacto complainant in 498-A cases think that the husband is evading to pay.

As Mr. Augustine stated that this can be taken as harassment on husband by the wife which isa good ground for divorce under section 13b of the HMA. you may still go ahead for the quash.

As for sections 3&4 of the dowry prohibition acts do not apply any more here in your case and the subject matter is only under section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code which needs to be quashed.

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