IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY, THE 19th DAY OF OCTOBER, TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN PRESENT HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH CRIMINAL PETITION No.5486 of 2010 Between: B.Suresh Kumar Reddy and others … Petitioners And The State of A.P., rep. by its Public Prosecutor And another … Respondents This Court made the following: HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH CRIMINAL PETITION No. 5486 OF 2010 ORDER: - The petitioners/A1 to A4 in F.I.R.No.49 of 2010 punishable under Section 498A IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, filed the present criminal petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 seeking to quash the said crime. Brief facts of the case are that the 2nd respondent herein is the de facto complainant, who lodged a complaint on 07.05.2010 before the Inspector of Police, Women’s Police Station, Begumpet, Hyderabad against the petitioners alleging that she has married the 1st petitioner herein on 17.02.2000 and her husband is a law graduate, doing nothing for his livelihood and his family. He is totally instable, fickle minded, cheater, lier, drunker and womeniser. They had two daughters, one is eight years old and the other is four years old. He never took care of their kids. Her father had given a dowry of Rs.7,00,000/- and 25 tulas of gold ornaments at the time of their marriage to her husband and his parents. Her husband was not earning any money to feed his family since their marriage. Their father-in-law and mother-in-law had thrown her out from their house demanding more money from her father. It is further submitted that her father had given Rs.5,00,000/- to start a P.G. Accommodation at Bangalore. They ran the hostel for four years till 2007 and lost every thing. Her father had again given Rs.9,00,000/- to start a ladies accommodation. She took one charge of ladies P.G.Accommodation and run till July, 2009. When fed up with his misbehaviour and beating, she came to Hyderabad to look after her children. When she had struggled for years doing P.G.Accommodation at Bangalore jointly with her in-laws, lastly his elder brother B.Sudhakar Reddy cheated them and thrown them out of their house empty handed. Because of their continuous torture and abuse, she came to Hyderabad struggling for her livelihood. Her ladies P.G.Accommodation was sold out to Mr.Rajesh of Bangalore for Rs.8,50,000/-. Out of the said amount, her husband has taken Rs.3,30,000/- from Mr.Rajesh by cheating. When she asked on 24.04.2010, her husband as usual beat him brutally and tried to kill her by pressing her neck. Her father-in-law and brother- in-law started abusing her with foul language. When she shouted loudly asking for help, her husband ran away. Under the above circumstances, the 2nd respondent lodged a complaint and the 1st respondent taking cognizance of the allegations mentioned in the complaint, registered a crime in F.I.R.No.49 of 2010 punishable under Section 498A IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of D.P.Act. Questioning the same, the present Criminal Petition is filed. Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that having regard to the nature of the dispute between the petitioner and the de facto complainant i.e., the 2nd respondent, the matter is settled out of Court and that the 2nd respondent and the accused are living together. To that effect, she filed an affidavit, which reads as under:- “I, G.Sujatha Reddy, W/o.B.Suresh Kumar Reddy, aged about 32 years, Occ:House Wife, R/o.H.No.30-518/1, Plot No.7 & 8,m Gayatri Nagar Colony, Tirumalgherry, Hyderabad-015, do hereby sincerely and solemnly affirm and state on oath as follows: 1) I am the 2nd respondent herein as such I am well acquainted with the facts of the case. 2) I humbly submit that the petitioner/accused No.1 i.e., B.Suresh Kumar Reddy is my husband. I was married to the petitioner No.1 on 17.02.2000 as per prevailing Hindu Rites and Cutoms at T.T.D. Kalyana Mandapam, C.Camp Center, Kunrool. Thereafter wewere blessed with children. After some time some differences arose between me and my husband and therefore I filed the complaint against my husband and in –laws with WPS, Begumpet and the same is pending. I further submit that due to the intervention of elders and also in the interest of children, myself and my husband sorted out the differences and living together. 3) I further submit that since myself and my husband are living happily, the continuance of the criminal case against my husband and his parents will not serve any purpose and nothing but wastage of the time of this Hon’ble Court. Therefore, I decided to withdraw the complaint and the same may be quashed.” Therefore, he prays this Court to quash the F.I.R. Learned counsel for the public prosecutor appearing for the 1st respondent would submit that having regard to the nature of the proceedings and settlement arrived at between the parties i.e., the de facto complainant and the accused and as they are living together as per the advice offered by the elders and to that effect filed the affidavit, the F.I.R. may be quashed. Heard the learned counsel on either side and perused the material on record. This Court while issuing notice before admission on 23.06.2010 granted interim stay of all further proceedings for a period of four weeks and thereafter it was extended. Basing on the complaint lodged by the 2nd respondent (de facto complainant), the F.I.R. was issued against the petitioner for the offence under Section 498A IPC read with Sections 3 and 4 of D.P.Act. Now that the matter is settled between the parties and as the de facto complainant and the accused are living together, in the interest of justice and in the interest of their family, no useful purpose would be served in continuing the criminal proceedings. Therefore, the F.I.R. is liable to be quashed. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed. ____________________ G.CHANDRAIAH, J 19.10.2011 lmv HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH CRIMINAL PETITION No.5486 of 2010 19.10.2011 lmv