AMAR Saran, J. - (1.) Heard learned Counsel for the applicants and learned AGA.
(2.) THIS application has been filed for quashing of the criminal proceedings in Case No. 11118 of 2007 (State v. Smt. Siya Devi and other) under section 309/306 IPC, PS Tajganj, Agra, pending in the Court of CJM, Agra. The allegations in the FIR, lodged on 6. 3. 2007 at 6 p. m. by SHO, Rajesh Ku mar Dwivedi, PS Tajganj, Agra, was that on receiving information that a woman was about to take samadhi in village Ghaghu - pura, PS Tajganj, the police party rushed there and found the applicant Smt. Siya Devi sitting with folded hands in a pit 4 ft. x 4 ft. and her relatives (which included the applicant Mahendra, her husband and her behnoi Rajendra Singh covering her with mud which had reached her chest level by then. Inspite of strong protests by the ap plicants and other relatives the police pulled out Smt. Siya Devi from the pit. The applicants were taken into custody and were subsequently released on bail. The learned Counsel suggested that the incident was concocted as the ap plicants Mahendra and Siya Devi's daughter Kumari Rita was to be married on 1. 5. 07 and her mother was unlikely to try and commit suicide by taking samadhi at this stage. In my view there was no reason for the police to have graphically given such details in the FIR if no such incident had ensued.
(3.) ALTERNATIVELY the learned Counsel vehemently contends that it is a woman's inalienable right to take samadhi and the act was being done for a religious purpose. The argument of the learned Counsel for the applicants is a queer one which seeks to justify a course of conduct akin to the medieval and obnoxious prac tice by which women were encouraged and abetted to commit sati or to otherwise take their lives and it was justified as a religious act. The Courts do not and cannot counte nance or condone such illegal activities and must take drastic measures to put an end to such inhuman practices whenever they come to light.;