Bhuj College Stripping case: Gujarat HC quashes FIRs against accused citing compromise, states that offences were "not so grave"

The Gujarat High Court has quashed the FIR filed against the Principal and other staff of Sahjanand Girls Institute in Bhuj for stripping 66 female students to check whether they were menstruating..The Principal and the four others accused in the case moved the High Court seeking to quash the FIR filed against them. Averring that the matter had been settled amicably, they brought on record an affidavit filed by one of the complainants. .In her affidavit, the complainant claimed that the dispute cropped up owing to “heated media intervention” and also "chaos created in the campus”. She supposedly stated that she and the other girls “understood the entire incident in the proper sense” and the matter was amicably settled. The girls’ families and other students had been a part of the reconciliation, the affidavit states..Noting that the offences alleged were “not so grave” as compared to other serious offences such as rape, the Single Judge Bench of Justice AC Joshi declared that a trial would be “against the ends of justice”. However, the inherent power of the Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure could not be invoked to quash proceedings instituted for serious offences, the judge emphasized..Even so, Justice Joshi stated,"Normally, this Court would not entertain the quashing petition in serious offences like offences under Sections 376 and 302 of the IPC. But, in the present case offfences which are registered upon the applicant are less serious in nature, which is discussed earlier. Therefore, with respect, latest law is not applicable to the present case."With the observation that continuing proceedings in respect of the FIR would be a “futile exercise”, the Court quashed the FIR..The matter caught media attention earlier this year, with the involvement of the National Commission for Women and a Special Investigation Team being constituted to probe the incident. The Principal, the institute coordinator, the girls’ hostel supervisor, and a peon were booked for their roles in the incident and were later arrested..Senior Advocate ND Nanavati appeared for the applicants, while Advocate Vaibhaviben Nanavati and Nimesh M Patel represented one of the complainants. APP HK Patel argued for the State..Read the Order here: