S. No.124 Suppl. 1 ,,,HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH AT SRINAGAR CM(M) No.259 of 2025 Mohammad Yousuf Sheikh …..Petitioner(s) Through: Mr.Ateeb Kanth, Advocate V/s Mst. Shahzada … ..Respondent(s) Through : None. CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY DHAR, JUDGE ORDER 09.07.2025 1. The petitioner through the medium of present petition has challenged order dated 03.03.2025 passed by the Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Magam, whereby interim relief in terms of Section 23 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (hereinafter “the D.V.Act”) has been granted in favour of the respondent who has been held entitled to shared accommodation. In addition to that the petitioner has been prohibited from committing any act of domestic violence against the respondent. The order impugned has been passed in ex-parte and has been made subject to objections of other side. 2. The petitioner has challenged the impugned order on the ground that the respondent had earlier filed a similar application against the petitioner in which a compromise was effected by the parties on 15.09.2022, whereby the petitioner, inter-alia, had undertaken to pay monthly maintenance of CM(M)No.259/2025 2 | P a g e Rs.10,000/- to the respondent. The said amount had to be deducted from the salary account of the petitioner. It has been contended that second petition under the provisions of the D.V. Act is not maintainable. 3. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the material on record. 4. The main ground urged by learned counsel for the petitioner for challenging the impugning order passed by the learned trial Magistrate is that the second petition under the D.V.Act is not maintainable once the earlier one has been disposed of in terms of a compromise arrived at between the parties. 5. So far as the proceedings under Section 12 of the D.V.Act are concerned, the same cannot be equated with lodging of a criminal complaint or initiation of prosecution and, therefore, a Magistrate, after obtaining response from the husband and his relatives etc., is well within his/her jurisdiction to revoke his/her order of issuing summons to them or he/she can even drop the proceedings. The Magistrate would be well within his/her jurisdiction to cancel the interim order passed by him/her, if upon going through the response of the husband and his relatives, he/she finds that they have been unnecessarily roped in or no case for grant of interim order is made out. Since the proceedings under Section 12 of the D.V.Act are not, in strict sense, criminal in nature, as such, bar to alter/revoke an order by a Magistrate is not attracted to these proceedings. I am supported in taking the aforesaid view by the Supreme Court in the case of Kamatchi v. Lakshmi Narayanan, 2022 SCC Online SC 466. 6. In view of the aforesaid discussion and the law on the subject, it is clear that the Magistrate has power to revoke the CM(M)No.259/2025 3 | P a g e proceedings initiated against a person in terms of Section 12 of the D.V.Act, if and when the Magistrate finds that there is no ground to proceed against such person. Therefore, in the instant case it will be open to the petitioner to make an application before the learned Magistrate for dropping of the proceedings against him and to revoke the interim order granted in favour of the respondent. 7. In the backdrop of aforesaid discussion and without going into the merits of the contentions raised, it is provided that the petitioner may file an application before the learned Magistrate for dropping of the proceedings against him and for revocation of interim order granted in favour of the respondent. In case the same is done, the learned Magistrate shall, after hearing both the parties, pass appropriate orders in accordance with law, within one month from the date such application is filed by the petitioner. 8. This petition shall stand disposed of in the above terms. A copy of this order be sent to the learned trial Magistrate. (SANJAY DHAR) JUDGE SRINAGAR 09.07.2025 Sarveeda Nissar 1. Whether the order is speaking: Yes/No Whether the order is reportable: Yes/No Sarveeda Nissar I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document every page at bottom left side 11.07.2025 15:03