IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CR. WJC No.255 of 2009 PRIYANKA KUMARI wife of Sunil Kumar and Daughter of Awadhesh Kumar resident of village-Sakari Saraia, P.S.-Kudhani, District-Muzaffarpur, presently residing in exile along with her husband at village- Chaura, Raghunathpur, Noida, District- G.B. Nagar (U.P.) Versus 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR 2. The District Magistrate, Muzaffarpur 3. The Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur 4. The Dy. Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur. 5. The Officer-in-charge, Kaji Mohammadpur Police Station, Muzaffarpur. 6. The Investigating Officer (I.O.), Kaji Mohammadpur, P.S. Case No. 15/09 through the Officer-in-charge, Kaji Mohammadpur police Station, Muzaffarpur. ----------- 4 08.02.2010 Petitioner in this writ application has prayed for quashing of the F.I.R. and investigation pertaining to Kaji Mohammadpur P.S. Case No. 15/09 instituted under Sections 328 and 366A of the I.P.C. by the maternal uncle of the petitioner. On the last date petitioner and the boy, with whom she claimed to have married, had appeared before this Court and gave statement that they had married willingly and on their own volition. They produced a certificate issued from Arya Samaj, Arun Vihar Noida of marriage in support of the certificate of Marriage issued by Sub Registrar-I, Noida, U.P. 2 annexed with the writ petition as Annexure-3. Besides, copies of the school certificates etc. have been annexed as Annexures 2 series, from which it appears that date of birth of the petitioner is 23.10.1988. Hence, in view of the said date of birth her age, on the date of alleged occurrence, comes to about 20 years. Therefore, clearly as per the said date of birth she was major on the date of alleged occurrence. It is stated that the husband of the petitioner was one year senior to her in the college therefore it cannot be doubted that he was also major at that point of time. Counter affidavit has been filed by the Dy.S.P.(H.Q.), Muzaffarpur. It is stated that petitioner has not appeared before the police for recording her statement and had not produced the certificates before the police. Therefore the police is enable to arrive at a conclusion. However, from the supervision report enclosed as Annexure-A to the counter affidavit it is apparent that the certificates have been received by the police from which she appeared to be major. However, since she has not appeared for recording her statement due to which the investigation is not being completed 3 and the final report is not being submitted. In the circumstances, this Court directs the petitioner to appear before a Magistrate as and when intimated by the police, at her own convenience and get her statement recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C. For this purpose, if she files an application before the S.P., Muzaffarpur, she should be given adequate police protection. It is made clear that if the petitioner visits Muzaffarpur she must not be tortured or harassed, mentally or physically, by the police or from the side of the informant and her other family members. She should be safely taken to the Magistrate for recording her statement and should be allowed to leave the station without any interference in her movements. After recording her statement under Section 164 Cr.P.C. the police will complete investigation and submit final report to the Court for the needful. The writ petition is disposed of with the aforesaid observations and directions. Bibhash (J.N. Singh, J.)