Delhi High Court directs parties to clean Yamuna river for 45 days as condition to quash FIR

The Delhi High Court recently asked the parties to a case to clean the Yamuna river for 45 whole days as a condition to quash the first information report (FIR) [Mamta Devi and Ors. vs. State of NCT of Delhi & Ors.]..Single-judge Justice Jasmeet Singh passed the order after taking note of the settlement arrived at between two parties in a case resulting from a minor altercation between the parents of two children."All the petitioners and respondents will report and do the work assigned for cleaning river Yamuna for a period of 45 days. At the end of satisfactory service, the petitioners and respondents will be given a certificate by Delhi Jal Board for Yamuna Cleaning and this certificate by each of the petitioners and respondents must be placed on record within one week of their receipt. It is expected that the petitioners and respondents will help in cleaning Yamuna river with all their sincere efforts and energies," the Court directed.The case arose from a fight between the children of the complainant and petitioners, following which their parents also got embroiled in altercation, resulting in injuries.FIR was registered for offences under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).Subsequently, both the parties agreed that they had arrived at a settlement and that all the disputes between them were sorted. The Court was informed they had entered into a compromise, based on their own volition and without any coercion.Both the parties regret their action and assure this Court that such actions will not take place in future, the Court noted.It, therefore, quashed the FIR while directing both the parties to clean the Yamuna river for 45 days, under the supervision of a Delhi Jal Board team member (drainage), Ajay Gupta."For the above stated reasons, FIR No. 154/2022 dated 28.02.2022, under Sections 323/341/506/509/354/34 IPC, registered at Police Station – Jaitpur, Delhi and proceedings pursuant thereto, if any, are hereby quashed subject to the petitioners and respondents working with Delhi Jal Board Team under the supervision of Member, Drainage Shri Ajay Gupta," the order said. The Court also clarified that at the end of satisfactory service, the parties will be given a certificate by the Delhi Jal Board for Yamuna cleaning and the same will have to be placed on record before the Court within a week of it's receipt."The Standing Counsel must be informed of each and every step taken in this regard. In case the certificate is not placed on record, the registry is directed to place the file before the Court," the Court further said.The matter has been listed for compliance on August 16..Advocate Anis Ahmad and Jitendra Rexwal appeared for petitioners. Standing Counsel Sanjay Lao along with advocates Priyam Agrawala and Malkhan Singh appeared the respondents..[Read Order]