CRM(M)/1005/2026 of RIAZ AHMED Vs UT OF J AND K TH. STATION HOUSE OFFICER, KISHTWAR AND ANOTHER on 14 September 2026

ORDER

(14.09.2026)

1. The stage at which the petitioner has come forward seeking indulgence of this Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 akin to Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 thereby seeking quashment of a charge-sheet No. 33/2022 dated 20.04.2022 of Police Station, Kishtwar, District Kishtwar, is too late to be accommodated by this Court.

2. The case perhaps has reached the final stage of its adjudication in the sense that the independent prosecution witnesses cited in the challan have come to be examined which includes the respondent No. 2, who is the wife of the petitioner, at whose instance the criminal case came to take Serial No. 19 Regular List

Page 2 of 2 CRM(M) No. 1005/2026 origin in the form of FIR No. 58/2022 dated 22.03.2022 registered by Police Station, Kishtwar, district Kisthwar.

3. Therefore, indulgence at this stage of the criminal case in which the petitioner himself submitted voluntarily for trial purposes would not be fair, be it from the point of view of the complainant that is the respondent No. 2 as well as of the petitioner, for the reasons being that this Court would be then called upon to take a call on the basis of the material which has come on record and that would be upstaging the trial court from its adjudication role.

4. Thus, on account of delay and laches, this Court is not inclined to grant indulgence, as such, the petition is not entertained and is dismissed in limine.

5. However, the trial court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kishtwar, is directed to expedite the trial of the case by examining the remaining prosecution witnesses as early as possible and take the adjudication of the case to its logical end to spare the petitioner from the anxiety related to his future on account of his implication in the criminal case.

(RAHUL BHARTI) JUDGE JAMMU

14.09.2026

SUNIL