New Delhi: The Delhi high court has directed a woman to provide sanitary napkins to a girls’ school for two months as condition to quash an extortion case lodged against her.
The high court also asked the complainant in the extortion case – a lawyer – to report to the office of Delhi High Court Legal Service Committee (DHCLSC) and undertake pro bono (done for public good free of cost) work to the best of his ability and capability for the next three months.
It quashed the FIR after noting that no purpose would be served in prosecuting the complainant as the parties have arrived at a settlement and wish to put a quietus to the dispute between them.
“However, I am of the view that considerable time of the police and judiciary has been wasted. The police machinery has been put in motion on account of the acts of commission and omission on behalf of the parties and useful time of the police which could have been utilised for important matters has been misdirected towards this case. Hence, the parties must do some social good,” Justice Jasmeet Singh said.
The high court said, “In this view of the matter, the FIR is quashed subject to the petitioner (woman) providing sanitary napkins to a girls’ school, which will be identified by the prosecutor, not having less than 100 girls from Class-VI to XII for a period of 2 months.”
The woman had sought the quashing of an FIR lodged against her at Preet Vihar Police Station by the lawyer for alleged extortion and criminal intimidation.
A lawyer, reported Bar and Bench, had filed an FIR saying that the woman had sought legal professional consultancy from her and her senior colleague, but did not pay her fees. The lawyer alleged in the FIR that her one-time client had also misbehaved with her.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against the petitioner for offences under Sections 384 (Punishment for extortion) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, the report said.
The petitioner had also registered an FIR against the respondent lawyer eight months prior to this FIR.
During pendency of the proceedings, a compromise was reached between the parties and they decided to cooperate with each other to get the two FIRs quashed.
The court said needful shall be done within four weeks and listed the matter for compliance by the investigating officer in April, 2023.
This article was first published on The Wire.
(With PTI inputs)