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Synopsis

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday dismissed a criminal revision petition filed by one Vartika Singh seeking registration of an FIR against Union minister Smriti Irani and others for allegedly demanding Rs. 25 Lakhs to make Singh a member of the Central Women's Commission.

Singh, a shooter, had filed the revision petition against the decision of the Special Judge (MP/MLA Court), Sultanpur declining to order registration of the FIR against the minister and others.

The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh passed the order ex-parte as despite ample opportunity none appeared in the Court to argue the matter on Singh's behalf.

On perusal of the records, Court found that Vartika had used some papers to claim that she was nominated which were allegedly bogus and an FIR has been registered against her in which investigation is ongoing.

It was Singh's claim that Vijay Gupta, the personal secretary of Union Minister Smriti Irani and his associate Dr. Rajneesh Singh, a resident of Ayodhya, had demanded a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to make her a member of the State Women's Commission.

Along with this, Singh had claimed that the fraud was attempted in collusion with the minister. 

The MP-MLA court heard the matter and on February 20, 2021, it dismissed the complaint filed due to lack of evidence. The Special court held that after an FIR was registered on November 20, 2020 in respect of forged documents prepared by Singh, she filed an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. levelling serious charges against the Central Minister and other persons.

Holding Special Judge's view correct, the high court dismissed Singh's plea. "There is no error of law or jurisdiction in the impugned order, which requires this Court to interfere with the same in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction. Revision being devoid of merit and substance, is hereby dismissed", the Court ordered.

Case Title: Vartika Singh v. State Of U.P. & Ors.