The Delhi High Court has quashed cross first information reports (FIRs) filed by two feuding neighbours after a scuffle over their pets, on the condition that they serve pizza and buttermilk to children at a government-run childcare institution.
Justice Arun Monga, in an order dated August 19, observed that the dispute was purely personal in nature and the continuation of criminal proceedings would serve no meaningful purpose. The court noted that quashing the FIRs would “promote cordiality and bonhomie between the neighbours” rather than rekindle hostility.
The incident occurred on May 5, when the neighbours clashed over the handling of their pets, leading to the registration of cross FIRs at Mansarovar Park police station under provisions including criminal intimidation, grievous hurt, and wrongful restraint.
Both parties appeared before the court and, along with their lawyers, confirmed that they had amicably resolved the matter and no longer wished to pursue the cases. The FIRs, they admitted, had stemmed from a misunderstanding.
During the proceedings, the bench was informed that one of the complainants was in the business of baking and selling pizzas. Taking this into account, the judge directed both parties to perform community service by distributing pizza and buttermilk to the residents and staff of Sanskar Ashram, a childcare home in GTB Nagar.
“In such circumstances, continuation of the criminal proceedings would serve no useful purpose and would rather amount to an abuse of the process of law. Not quashing the criminal proceedings would rekindle hostility, whereas quashing the same would promote cordiality and bonhomie between the neighbours,” the court observed in its four-page order.
