Gujarat High Court Quashes State's First FIR Filed Under 'Anti-Love Jihad' Law

The Gujarat High Court recently quashed the first FIR registered by the Gujarat Police under the state's 'anti-love jihad' law after the husband and wife settled the matter among themselves."...this Court is of the considered view that further continuation of the criminal proceedings in relation to the impugned FIR would be nothing but unnecessary harassment to the parties and trial thereon would be futile and further continuation of the proceedings would amount to an abuse of process of law," observed the bench of Justice Niral R. Mehta as it quashed and set aside all the proceedings arising out of the FIR.As per the contents of the FIR, the woman (the alleged victim) had earlier alleged that her husband, his parents, and the priests who performed the matrimonial ceremony had forcibly converted her religion through marriage. They were all booked under Sections 498A, 376(2) (n), 377, 312, 313, 504, 506(2), 323, 419, and 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 4, 4(A), 4(2)(A), 4(2)(B) and 5 of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021 and Sections 3(1)(r)(s), 3(2)(5), 3(2)(5-a), 3(1)(w)(1)(2) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities).Thereafter, the woman and the accused moved the High Court seeking quashing of the case on the ground that the matter is amicably settled amongst the parties and therefore, any further continuation of the proceedings pursuant to the impugned FIR would create hardship to the parties.Significantly, the woman (the alleged victim) also submitted before the High Court the FIR had been registered by Gujarat Police bringing in the Love-Jihad angle on their own, and that it contained grossly incorrect and untrue facts, particularly regarding the allegations of forceful conversion.The woman claimed that she had approached a local police station in Vadodara to report petty and trivial matrimonial discord, however, the police, on their own, brought in the "love jihad" angle and they inserted the allegations in the FIR which she did not even make."...certain religiopolitical groups intervened in the matter and communalized the said issue by bringing in the love jihad angle, also on account of the overzealousness of the police officers involved, facts and offences which were never mentioned or alleged by the informant came to be inserted in the FIR," she stated in her petition.However, the Gujarat state objected to the woman's prayer to quash the case as it argued that looking at averments made in the FIR, the complaint may not be quashed. However, without going into the details of the averments made by the woman, the Court decided to quash the FIR by observing thus:"...considering the fact that the applicant No.1 and the respondent No.2 are the husband and wife respectively and the rest of the applicants are the relatives of the applicant No.1, however, because of the matrimonial disputes, the impugned F.I.R. came to be lodged, but, later on, with the mediation of the respective members of the family, an amicable settlement has been arrived at between the parties and they are residing together. In that view of the matter, the further continuation of the criminal proceedings would jeopardize their future, and thus, this Court is inclined to accept the settlement."Case title - SAMIR @ SEM S/O ABDULBHAI QURESHI Versus STATE OF GUJARAT [CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION NO. 18325 of 2022]Case Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Guj) 394Click Here To Read/Download Order

Gujarat High Court Quashes State's First FIR Filed Under 'Anti-Love Jihad' Law

Sparsh Upadhyay

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