The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the petition seeking protection and quashing of the first information report against Payal Maheshwari, wife of Sanjeev Jeeva.
The Division Bench of Justice Anjani Kumar Mishra and Justice Nand Prabha Shukla passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Payal Maheshwari.
The writ petition seeks quashing of the first information report dated 24.04.2023 giving rise to Case under Section 2/3 of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, Police Station Nai Mandi, District Muzaffar Nagar.
The contention of the counsel for the petitioner is that the first information report under Section 2/3 of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 is malafide and have been filed only after the petitioners were granted bail in the base case with a view to wreck vengeance upon them.
The first information report has been lodged also on account of the political considerations as the petitioner belongs to the Rashtriya Lok Dal. The provisions of Gangsters Act has been invoked on the basis of a solitary case, wherein the entire family has been falsely implicated.
Counsel for the petitioner said that the petitioner is a lady and the only allegation against her in the base case is of holding out threats. No other overt action has been ascribed to her. The petitioner is therefore entitled for protection and the first information report is liable to be quashed.
AGA on the other hand submitted that the charge sheet in the base case was filed on 16.04.2023. The first information report under the Gangsters Act, on the basis of the charge sheet in the base case has been registered on 24.04.2023.
The charge sheet in the base case has not been stayed or set aside by any competent court and therefore, in view of the ratio laid down in the case of Shraddha Gupta Vs State of U.P, AIR 2022 SC 2062, the matter calls for no interference and the writ petition deserves summary dismissal.
The Court said that,
At the very outset, it would be relevant to note that the allegations in the first information report constitute an ingredient of a cognizable offence.
The submissions that have been made by the counsel for the petitioner are the defense of the petitioner, which is not liable to be taken into account while dealing with a writ petition seeking quashing of the first information report.
“It is also settled law that the writ Court is not required to traverse the allegations in the first information report and to examine whether the same are correct or false. The only requirement for the writ Court to determine, on a bare perusal of the allegations in the first information report and accepting every word to be correct, is whether any cognizable offence is disclosed.
The allegations do constitute a cognizable offence, The first information report therefore, is not liable to be quashed”, the Court observed while dismissing the petition.