Bombay High Court: Making observations in the Writ Petition filed before the court, as to the conduct of accused and subsequent circumstances, which had fortified the facts of the First Information Report, the Division Bench of Naresh H. Patil and Prakash D. Naik JJ. declined the prayer for quashing of the FIR. The FIR in question was filed by Mehjaben Abbas Khan against Mohd. Faizan Amir Khan under Section 376 and 420 of the Penal Code, 1860. The petitioner who is the accused named in the FIR had sought to quash the FIR on grounds that the parties have amicably settled the dispute.
The facts of the case showed that the accused had induced the complainant to have physical relationship with a false promise of marriage while they lived together in a rented place in Mumbai. He had no intention of marrying her and had left for Uttar Pradesh, his native home, without her knowledge. Further, he even had refused to fulfill his promise of marriage to the complainant.
It was also noted that after the FIR was registered on 2.02.2016, the accused was not available for investigation and had been absconding. It was only after realizing that the FIR had been registered against him and the investigating machinery was looking for him, he came to Mumbai and purportedly solemnised the marriage on 29.04.2016. The Court even noted that the present petition had been filed just the following day i.e. on 30.04.2016 along with the affidavit by complainant giving consent for quashing the FIR.
The Court held that the approach of the accused had been suspicious and though the accused and complainant had solemnised the marriage, it is not inclined to quash the FIR. Upholding the decision of the Supreme Court in Gian Singh v. State of Punjab (2012) 10 SCC 303, the Court held that in respect of serious offences like murder, rape, dacoity etc. and other offences of moral turpitude, “the settlement between the offender and the victim can have no legal sanction at all.”. Therefore, having considered the factual aspects of the FIR and the law laid down by the Apex Court, the conduct of the accused and the subsequent events formed sufficient ground to decline the prayer made in the petition. Hence, the Court dismissed the petition with no order as to costs. [Mohammad Faizan Amir Khan v. State of Maharashtra, 2016 SCC OnLine Bom 5020, Decided on: July 5, 2016]
