Gujarat High Court
Karshanbhai Samelaji Purohit vs State Of Gujarat on 3 November, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/SCR.A/11631/2021 ORDER DATED: 03/11/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CRIMINAL APPLICATION (QUASHING) NO. 11631 of 2021
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KARSHANBHAI SAMELAJI PUROHIT & ANR.
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR NV GANDHI(1693) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2
NOTICE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MR. KANVA ANTANI, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J. C. DOSHI
Date : 03/11/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. The present petition, invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, calls in question the legality and propriety of the judgment and order passed by the learned 11th Additional Sessions Judge, Surat, in Criminal Revision No. 240 of 2021, whereby the learned Revisional Court dismissed the said revision and affirmed the order of the learned trial Court rejecting the discharge application filed under Section 239 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
2. The factual matrix, shorn of non-essential details, is adumbrated thus: The complainant, Smt. Mayaben, wife of Shri Gautambhai Purohit, lodged an FIR being C.R. No. I-186 of 2018 before the Umra Police Station, Surat, alleging offences punishable under Sections 498A, 323, and 504 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The said FIR named the husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in- law as accused persons. Upon completion of investigation, a chargesheet came to be filed, culminating in Criminal Case No. Page 1 of 4 Uploaded by MANISH MISHRA(HC01776) on Tue Nov 04 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Nov 04 22:13:20 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/SCR.A/11631/2021 ORDER DATED: 03/11/2025 undefined 11918 of 2019 before the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat, who thereafter issued process against the accused.
3. Aggrieved thereby, the father-in-law and mother-in-law, namely Karshanbhai Samelaji Purohit and Jamuben Karshanbhai Purohit, preferred a discharge application at Exh.12 under Section 239 CrPC, which came to be rejected by the learned trial Court. The petitioners thereafter preferred a Criminal Revision Application No. 240 of 2021, which too was dismissed by the learned Sessions Court. Hence, the present petition challenging the concurrent findings of both Courts below.
4. Perusal of the FIR and the chargesheet papers reveals that the allegations levelled against the petitioners are omnibus and general in nature, bereft of any specific incident or overt act attributable to them. The complaint, in essence, appears to be an attempt to rope in the entire family of the husband without delineating distinct acts constituting cruelty or harassment in sensu stricto under Section 498A of the IPC. Neither the FIR nor the chargesheet discloses any particularised instance of maltreatment that could ex facie attract the essential ingredients of the alleged offences.
5. Despite such a glaring absence of cogent material, the learned Courts below have, sub silentio, adopted an unduly hyper-technical approach in declining to discharge the petitioners. This approach, with respect, stands in stark contradiction to the well-settled exposition of law by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Geeta Mehrotra v. State of Uttar Pradesh [(2012) 10 SCC 741]; Kamal & Ors. v. State of Gujarat & Anr., SLP (Cri.) No. 9167 of 2024; and Muppidi Lakshmi Narayana Reddy & Ors. v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Page 2 of 4 Uploaded by MANISH MISHRA(HC01776) on Tue Nov 04 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Nov 04 22:13:20 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/SCR.A/11631/2021 ORDER DATED: 03/11/2025 undefined Anr., [2025 JX (SC) 558], wherein it has been unequivocally held that vague, omnibus, and unsubstantiated allegations against relatives of the husband cannot be permitted to sustain a criminal prosecution under Section 498A IPC.
6. A perusal of the impugned order passed by the Revisional Court further reveals that even while observing in paragraphs 13, 14, 15, and 17 that there is no direct evidence against the petitioners, the learned Sessions Judge nonetheless proceeded to dismiss the revision, turning a blind eye to the ratio decidendi of the aforesaid binding precedents. The reasoning adopted thus suffers from a patent legal infirmity and manifests a failure to exercise the supervisory jurisdiction vested in the Revisional Court.
7. In the backdrop of the foregoing discussion, this Court is of the considered view that the impugned order of the Revisional Court cannot be sustained in limine. The same, being vitiated by a palpable non-application of mind to the settled legal position, warrants interference in exercise of the supervisory jurisdiction of this Court.
8. Ergo, the present petition succeeds and is hereby ALLOWED. The impugned judgment and order dated 18.9.2021 passed in Criminal Revision No. 240 of 2021 by the learned 11th Additional Sessions Judge, Surat, are hereby quashed and set aside.
8. The criminal revision is remanded to the learned Principal District and Sessions Judge, Surat, to be reconsidered de novo, strictly in accordance with law and in light of the binding precedents of the Hon'ble Supreme Court as adverted to hereinabove. The learned Revisional Court shall ensure disposal of the matter within a Page 3 of 4 Uploaded by MANISH MISHRA(HC01776) on Tue Nov 04 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Nov 04 22:13:20 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/SCR.A/11631/2021 ORDER DATED: 03/11/2025 undefined period of twelve (12) weeks from the date of receipt of this order, after affording due opportunity of hearing to all concerned.
9. The petitioner shall ensure that the original complainant is duly joined and served in the revision proceedings.
10. Rule is made absolute. Direct service is permitted.
(J. C. DOSHI,J) MANISH MISHRA Page 4 of 4 Uploaded by MANISH MISHRA(HC01776) on Tue Nov 04 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Nov 04 22:13:20 IST 2025