Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Suchita Anand vs Smt. Surindra Seth on 28 July, 2022
Bench: A.M. Khanwilkar, Abhay S. Oka
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
I.A. NO.68443/2022
IN/AND
TRANSFER PETITION (CRL) NO.57 OF 2020
SUCHITA ANAND & ORS. PETITIONER(S)
VERSUS
SURINDRA SETH RESPONDENT(S)
O R D E R
Learned counsel for the parties submit that the parties have resolved all their differences and have decided to give quietus to all the pending proceedings.
The Settlement Agreement dated 07.04.2022 duly executed by the parties (Suchita Anand-wife, Rahul Seth-
Husband and Surender Seth @ Surinder Seth-Grandmother-in-
law) as well as their advocates read as under :-
“SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT This Settlement Agreement is entered on 07/04/2022 at New Delhi into Signature Not Verified between:Digitally signed by NEETU KHAJURIA Date: 2022.07.30 14:47:17 IST Reason:
Ms. Suchita Anand D/o Shri Harish Anand R/o H.No. H.No. A-53, Anoop NagarPost Office, Near Jeevan Park,Uttam Nagar, Delhi - 110059. (Hereinafter referred to as “Wife”).2
AND i. Mrs. Surender Seth @ Surinder Seth W/o Late Shri Balkrishan Seth (Hereinafter referred to as “Grandmother-in-law”).
ii. Mr. Rahul Seth, S/o Mr. Rakesh Seth (Hereinafter referred to as “Husband”).
Above both R/o H.No.11, Mandla Road, Bilhari, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh – 482020.
The marriage between both the parties was solemnized as per Hindu rites and Customs on 04/12/2017 at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Both the parties resided together as husband-and-wife upto 13/10/2018.
Thereafter, disputes and differences arose between the parties hereto and they started living separately. There is no issue from this wedlock.
That the Wife had filed T.P. (Criminal) 57 of 2020 titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Surender Seth” before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, wherein the matter was referred to Mediation Cell, Supreme Court Complex and parties have arrived to an amicable settlement on the following terms and conditions:
1. That the Wife and Husband hereto confirm and declare that they have voluntarily and of their own free will have decided not to live together as husband and wife. On 21/02/2022 the parties have arrived at a settlement in the mediation proceedings in the Mediation Centre Supreme Court in the presence of the mediator Mr. R.K. Rathore, Mr. Sagar Sharma (Counsel for the wife) and Mr. S.K. Shinde (Counsel for the grandmother-in-law &husband).
2. That the parties have agreed that they shall jointly request and pray for divorce by mutual consent under Article 142 of the Constitution of India before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. The husband has agreed to pay full amount Rs. 12.00,000/- (Rs. Twelve Lakh only) to the Wife towards full and final settlement of all her claims towards permanent alimony, maintenance (past, present and future), belongings and or any other claim whatsoever on the next date of hearing before this Hon'ble Court if the Hon'ble Supreme Court grants divorce by mutual consent and quashing all the FIR/cases.
i. Both the parties have agreed that in case the Hon'ble Supreme Court does not grant divorce by mutual consent of quash FIR’s/cases under Article 142 of Constitution of India, they shall file Petition for the 3 divorce by way of mutual consent under Section 13 (B) (1) of Hindu Marriage Act before the Family Court Dwarka, Delhi as and when the transfer petition is decided by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The expenses of filing both the mutual consent divorce petitions by way of First and Second Motion respectively shall be borne by the parties individually.
ii. The Husband has agreed to pay to the Wife the First Instalment of Rs 3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lakhs Only) by way of Demand Draft in the name of the wife namely "Suchita Anand” at the time filing of First Motion of Divorce Petition by way of mutual consent under section 13 (B) (1) of Hindu Marriage Act 1955.
iii. The Husband has further agreed to pay to the Wife the second instalment of Rs 3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lakhs Only) by way of Demand Draft in the name of the wife namely “Suchita Anand”on or in this Court at the time of Second Motion of Divorce Petition filed undersection 13(B) (2) of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 by way of mutual consent at Family Court, Dwarka, Delhi.
iv. The Husband has further agreed to pay to the Wife the third instalment of Rs 3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lacs Only) by way of Demand Draft in the name of the wife namely “Suchita Anand” at the time of quashing of the F.I.R No. 554/2021 U/S: 498A/377/406/506/34 IPC P.S. Dabri in the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi.
v. Balance of Rs. 3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lakhs Only) will be paid at the time of quashing of FIR No.53 of 2021, P.S. Gora Bazar under Section 294/323/427/506/34 IPC filed by the husband.
In view of the terms of this settlement-agreement, the husband undertakes to withdraw/quash the following cases:
(A) Criminal Revision filed before the Hon’ble Court of Shri Vishwanath Sharma, Additional Session Judge, Jabalpur District Court, Madhya Pradesh titled as “Rahul Seth Versus Suchita Anand & Anrs.” petition bearing CRR No. 10 of 2021 on or before filing of First Motion petition.
(B) That husband further undertakes to not pursue/revive/restore the Sec 9 HMA 1955 case dismissed for non-prosecution by Shri Vipin Kumar Rai, Judge, Family Court, Sout West District, Dwarka Court, Delhi.
In view of the terms of this settlement-agreement, the wife undertakes to withdraw/quash the following cases :
(A) Withdrawing domestic violence Case u/s 12 PWDV Act titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth & Ors.”bearing case no. CT 4 Cases/50197/2018 pending before the Hon’ble Court of Ms. Swayam Siddha Tripathy, Metropolitan Magistrate, Mahila Court, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
(B) Withdrawing two execution petitions bearing case No. EX/220/2020 & EX/307/2021 filed in domestic violence Case u/s 12 PWDV Act titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth & Ors.”bearing case no. CT Cases/50197/2018 pending before the Hon’ble Court of Ms. Swayam Siddha Tripathy, Metropolitan Magistrate, MahilaCourt, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
(C) Withdrawing maintenance case u/s 125 Cr.P.C titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth” bearing case no. MT Case/771/2018 pending before the Hon’ble Court of Shri Vipin Kumar Rai, Judge, Family Courts, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
(D) Withdrawing suit for recovery of istridhan titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth & Ors.”bearing case no. CS/7/2021 pending before the Hon’ble Court of Shri Sanjay Garg, Principal Judge, Family Courts, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
(E) Withdrawing defamation case titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth & Anrs.” bearing case no. CT Case/3349/2020 pending before the Hon’ble Court of Shri Ashish Kumar Meena, Metropolitan Magistrate, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
In view of the terms of this settlement-agreement, the grandmother-in- law undertakes to withdraw/quash the following cases:
(A) Withdrawing domestic violence Case u/s 12 PWDV Act titled as “Surender Seth Versus Suchita Anand.” bearing case no. MJCR/525/2018 pending before the Hon’ble Court of Civil Judge Class-II, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
3. That the husband and wife have agreed that the First Motion of divorce petition by way of mutual consent under Section 13(B)(1) of Hindu Marriage Act, shall be filed by both the parties jointly before the Family Court, Dwarka Court, Delhi within two weeks as and when Hon'ble Supreme Court disposes of the pending Transfer case pending before the Hon'ble Court.
4. That the husband and wife have agreed to file the Second Motion of mutual consent divorce petition under Section 13(B)(2) of H.M. Act. 1955 which shall be filed as per law.
55. In view of the terms of this agreement, all the parties herein undertake to withdraw and or get quash all the pending cases/complaints as mentioned above and further undertakes to withdraw any case, petition, complaint, claims (civil or criminal), if any, against each other or their family members before any court of law or any other forum and would take all necessary steps withdrawing/quashing for the same before the filing of 2nd motion. If any case is not withdrawn by any of the parties mischievously, then the same shall be treated as null & void and will not have any sanctity before the eye of law and will amount to contempt of Court.
6. All the parties undertake not to withdraw their consent at any point of time and shall co-operate with the other party in dissolving their marriage by mutual consent and by providing assistance in signing & filling the petition(s), affidavit(s) and undertaking(s) as and when required. The withdrawal of consent by any of the parties shall give right to the other party to seek all remedies under the law as permissible.
7. The Wife and Husband undertake that henceforth, they would not interfere in the life of each other by any means and would not file any civil/criminal complaint or any other case against each other and/or their family members with regard to the present matrimonial alliance & shall not to make any claim or right over the immovable or movable properties of each other or their parents in future. Both the parties further undertake not to spread any ill-will against each other in the society.
8. By signing this Agreement, the parties hereto solemnly state and affirm that they have no further claims or demands against each other and all the disputes and differences have been amicably settled by the parties.
The parties undertake to abide by the terms and conditions set out in the abovementioned Agreement, which have been arrived without any coercion, duress or collusion and undertake not to raise any dispute whatsoever henceforth. That all the parties have gone through the details of the aforesaid terms of settlement agreement and have understood the same.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF:
That the parties are accordingly signing this settlement agreement in presence of the following persons to authenticate their will to comply the same as agreed above:
Sd/- Sd/- Sd/-
Suchita Anand Rahul Seth Surender Seth @ Surinder Seth
6
(Wife) (Husband) (Grandmother-in-law)
Sd/-
Sagar Sharma & Jaspreet Singh, Advocates (Counsels for Wife) Sd/-
S.K. Shinde (Counsel for Grandmother-in-law & husband) Sd/-
[R.K. Rathore] Mediator Supreme Court of India Dated: 07th April, 2022” As agreed between the parties, learned counsel for the respondent has handed over the demand draft(s) in the sum of Rs.12,00,000/- (Rupees twelve lakhs only) payable to petitioner No.1.
Learned counsel for the petitioner(s) has verified the demand draft(s) and has no objection for disposal of these proceedings and the proceedings referred to in the settlement agreement.
A formal joint application being I.A. No.68443/2022 has also been moved by the parties for disposing of the transfer petition and all proceedings.
We are satisfied that the settlement agreement dated 07.04.2022 is genuine and needs to be acted upon by the 7 parties.
Further, we accede to the prayer for a decree of divorce by mutual consent in exercise of plenary powers of this Court under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to do substantial justice to the parties.
We, accordingly, grant the decree of divorce by mutual consent to the wife- Suchita Anand (petitioner) and husband-Rahul Seth (grandson of the respondent), as prayed. Undertakings given by the parties in the agreement dated 07.04.2022 are accepted. Accordingly, the marriage between Suchita Anand and Rahul Seth solemnized on 04.12.2017 stands dissolved in terms of the aforesaid Settlement Agreement.
In view of above, following FIRs/Cases shall stand withdrawn to this Court and are quashed/disposed of in terms of this order.
(1) Criminal Revision bearing CRR No. 10 of 2021 titled as “Rahul Seth Versus Suchita Anand & Anrs. pending before the Court of Additional Session Judge, Jabalpur District Court, Madhya Pradesh (2) Domestic violence Case bearing No. CT Cases/50197/2018 titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth & Ors. pending before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, Mahila Court, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
(3) Execution petitions bearing case Nos.
8EX/220/2020 & EX/307/2021 filed in domestic violence Case bearing no. CT Cases/50197/2018 titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth & Ors.” pending before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, Mahila Court, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
(4) Maintenance case bearing No. MT Case/771/2018 titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth” pending before the Family Court, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
(5) Suit for recovery of istridhan bearing case no.
CS/7/2021, titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth & Ors.”pending before the Court of Principal Judge, Family Court, South West District, Dwarka Courts, Delhi.
(6) Defamation case bearing No. CT Case/3349/2020 titled as “Suchita Anand Versus Rahul Seth & Anrs.” pending before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, South West District, Dwarka Court, Delhi.
(7) Domestic violence Case bearing No. MJCR/525/2018 titled as “Surender Seth Versus Suchita Anand.” pending before the Court of Civil Judge Class- II, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
We once again record and accept the undertaking given by the parties in the Settlement Agreement that they will abide by the terms and conditions incorporated therein without any exception and that they shall not initiate any further civil or criminal case against each other and/or their family members.
The Transfer Petition and I.A. No.68443/2022 are disposed of in the aforementioned terms.
We express a word of appreciation for the sincere 9 efforts put in by Mr. R.K. Rathore, learned Mediator, who facilitated the parties to settle the matters in the above terms Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
....................,J.
(A.M. KHANWILKAR) ....................,J.
(ABHAY S. OKA) ....................,J.
(J.B. PARDIWALA) NEW DELHI;
JULY 28, 2022.
10ITEM NO.5 COURT NO.3 SECTION XVI-A
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Transfer Petition(s)(Criminal) No(s). 57/2020
SUCHITA ANAND & ORS. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
SURINDRA SETH Respondent(s)
IA No. 16616/2020 - EX-PARTE STAY
IA No. 16617/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.) IA No.68443/2022 - DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE BY MUTUAL CONSENT Date : 28-07-2022 This matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.M. KHANWILKAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ABHAY S. OKA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA For Petitioner(s) Ms. Harsh Lata, AOR Mr. Shobhit Jain, Adv.
Mr. Sagar Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Surbhi Bhatia, Adv.
Ms. Shivani Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Gargi Bhatia B. Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Samrat Krishnarao Shinde, AOR UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R The Transfer Petition and I.A. No.68443/2022 are disposed of in terms of the signed order.
Pending application, if any, stand disposed of.
(NEETU KHAJURIA) (VIDYA NEGI)
ASTT. REGISTRAR-cum-PS ASSISTANT REGISTRAR
(Signed order is placed on the file.)