1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. 200 OF 2011. Smt. Kanchan wd/o Virendra Warhade .vs. The State of Maharashtra & another Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. Mr. A.P. Tathod, Advocate holding for Mr. V.P. Panpalia, Advocate for petitioner, Mr. T.A. Mirza, A.P.P. for respondents. CORAM : MRS. V.K. TAHILRAMANI & M.L. TAHALIYANI, JJ. DATED : JULY 21, 2011. Heard the learned Advocate for the petitioner and the learned A.P.P. for the respondents. 2] The petitioner is the widow of Shri Virendra Pralhadrao Warhade. He was working as a Clerk in Shri Shivaji Education Society of Amravati. There were some irregularities in relation to collection of fees from students while giving admission. Hence, explanation was asked from Shri Virendra in relation to criteria for collecting fees. He gave his explanation. The case of the petitioner is that Virendra was harassed by the Principal of the said educational institution due to which he committed suicide by consuming poison on 15.11.2010. Hence, the prayer of the 2 petitioner is that the respondents be directed to register a FIR under Section 306 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code in the matter of death of Shri Virendra. 3] The affidavit filed by the officer of Shegaon Police Station shows that statement of the wife of deceased, i.e. the present petitioner has been recorded. In addition, the statements of father-in-law, mother-in-law and brother-in- law of the deceased have been recorded. In all, the statements of following persons have been recorded :- 1) Kanchanbai Virendra Warhade, wife of deceased, 2) Arun Pralhad Narkhede, father-in-law of deceased, 3) Shashikalabai Arun Narkhede, mother-in-law of deceased, 4) Pankaj Arun Narkhede, brother-in-law of deceased, 5) Prakash Pralhad Narkhede, Cousin father-in-law of deceased, 6) Manohar Govindrao Warhade, Counsin of father-in- law of deceased, 7) Sunil Madhukar Chopde, Cousin of father-in-law of deceased, 8) Pralhadrao Govindrao Warhade, father of deceased, 9) Sau. Indutai Pralhadrao, mother of deceased, 10)Bhaskar Govindrao Warhade, uncle of deceased, 3 11)Sau. Sunita Prakash Chaudhary, sister of deceased, 12)Arvind Sheshrao Sable, Principal, Shri Shivaji College of Horticulture at Amravati, 13)Arun Shankarrao Bhoyar, Assistant Professor, 14)Shankar Balvant Band, Professor, 15)Jagdish Krushnarao Kuche, Clerk, 16)Milind Madhukarrao Deshmukh, Cashier, 17)Nitin Jaydeorao Ingle, Clerk, 18)Ku. Jayshree Vinayakrao Harne, Professor, 19)Pramod Kashinath Jadhao, Computer Technician, 20)Dinesh Sudhakarrao Deshmukh, Professor, 21)Abdul Akil Sheikh Habib, Peon, all staff of Shri Shivaji College of Horticulture and 22)Motiram Bhagwan Thombre, neighbourer, Akola. 4] All except three of the above 22 witnesses have stated that there was no harassment by the Principal of the educational institution to Shri Virendra Pralhadrao Warhade. However, three persons, i.e. father-in-law, brother-in-law and wife of the deceased have stated in their statements that Shri Virendra used to tell them that the Principal was harassing him in relation to collecting more fees. However, these statements are not enough to show that there was any abetment on the part of the Principal so 4 as to coerce Shri Virendra to commit suicide. It is in these circumstances that FIR was not registered. However, the learned A.P.P. states that the enquiry is going on into A.D.R. No. 81/10 under Section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code. This ADR pertains to death of Shri Virendra. The said enquiry is being conducted by Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Khamgaon. 5] Section 176 of Criminal Procedure Code provides for enquiry by Magistrate into cause of death. Section 176(4) reads as under :- “S.176(4) : Where an inquiry is to be held under this section, the Magistrate, shall, wherever practicable, inform the relatives of the deceased whose names and addresses are known, and shall allow them to remain present at the inquiry. Explanation.-- In this section, the expression “relative” means parents, children, brothers, sisters and spouse.” In view of the above provisions, if the close relatives of deceased Virendra were not present during the enquiry, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate shall now give a notice to the petitioner and other relatives as envisaged u/s 176(4) and only thereafter take a final decision on the ADR. This 5 direction shall serve the ends of justice. In addition, it would also be open to the petitioner to file a private complaint before the Magistrate, if so advised. 6] With the above directions, the petition is disposed of. JUDGE. JUDGE. J.