Gujarat High Court
Imranbhai Gulmohhamadbhai ... vs State Of Gujarat on 2 September, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/14583/2019 ORDER DATED: 02/09/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR QUASHING & SET ASIDE
FIR/ORDER) NO. 14583 of 2019
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IMRANBHAI GULMOHHAMADBHAI THEBA(Deleted) & ORS.
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
DELETED for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2,3
HARSHIT M KARATHIA(7916) for the Applicant(s) No. 4,5,6,7,8
R N JADAV(7688) for the Applicant(s) No. 4,5,6,7,8
MR VIJAY G PASI(12878) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MR SOHAM JOSHI, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
SHRUTI G PASI(9306) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J. C. DOSHI
Date : 02/09/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. By way of this application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the petitioners nos.4 to 8 have prayed to quash and set aside the proceedings of Cr.M.A.No.350 of 2019 pending before the Court of learned JMFC, Rajkot, filed under the provisions of Protection of Woman from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and all the consequential proceedings arising therefrom.
2. Seeking quashment of questioned proceedings under D.V.Act, learned advocate for the applicants submits that petitioners are in law of the complainant. It is further submitted that complainant has made general allegations against the petitioner nos.4 to 8 in typical fashion to enrope applicants in the offence. It is further submitted that reading questioned criminal proceedings, learned advocate for the applicants Page 1 of 6 Uploaded by SATISH C. VEMULLA(HC00206) on Wed Sep 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Sep 03 23:55:36 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14583/2019 ORDER DATED: 02/09/2025 undefined submits that right to file said proceedings has been misused by complainant and therefore, it is submitted to allow the petition.
3. Per contra, learned advocate appearing for the private respondents, submitted that there is evidence on record to indicate that the respondent no.2 was subjected to domestic violence at the hands of the petitioners. In view of that, it is submitted that let trial to conduct against the petitioners to test veracity of the allegations. On this grounds, it is submitted to dismiss the petition.
4. Learned APP for respondent - State adopted the arguments of learned advocate for respondent no.2 and submitted to dismiss the petition.
5. Heard learned advocates for the parties. It is an undisputed fact that the respondent no.2 filed the present proceedings against her husband and in-laws, seeking various reliefs by making general and vague allegations against petitioners. Upon perusal of the impugned judgment passed by the learned trial Court, it appears that no specific or cogent evidence has been brought on record by the respondent no.2 to establish that she was subjected to domestic violence at the hands of the petitioner nos.4 to 8 viz. in-laws.
6. Learned advocate for respondent no.2 could not point out any evidence on record to showcase substance of any specific allegation or attribution to offending Act. At this juncture finding and observation of Apex Court in case of Geddam Jhansi And Page 2 of 6 Uploaded by SATISH C. VEMULLA(HC00206) on Wed Sep 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Sep 03 23:55:36 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14583/2019 ORDER DATED: 02/09/2025 undefined Another v. State of Telangana And Others reported in 2025 SC 1578 is as under:-
"31. Invoking criminal process is a serious matter with penal consequences involving coercive measures, which can be permitted only when specific act(s) which constitute offences punishable under the penal code or any other penal statute are alleged or attributed to the accused and a prima facie case is made out. It applies with equal force when criminal laws are invoked in domestic disputes. Criminalising domestic disputes without specific allegations and credible materials to support the same may have disastrous consequences for the institution of family, which is built on the premise of love, affection, cordiality and mutual trust. Institution of family constitutes the core of human society. Domesticrelationships, such as those between family members, are guided by deeply ingrained social values and cultural expectations. These relationships are often viewed as sacred, demanding a higher level of respect, commitment, and emotional investment compared to other social or professional associations. For the aforesaid reason, preservation of family relationship has always been emphasised upon. Thus, when family relationships are sought to be brought within the ambit of criminal proceedings rupturing the family bond, courts should be circumspect and judicious, and should allow invocation of criminal process only when there are specific allegations with supporting materials which clearly constitute criminal offences.
32. We have to keep in mind that in the context of matrimonial disputes, emotions run high, and as such in the complaints filed alleging harassment or domestic violence, there may be a tendency to implicate other members of the family who do not come to the rescue of the complainant or remain mute spectators to any alleged incident of harassment, which in our view cannot by itself constitute a criminal act without there being specific acts attributed to them. Further, when tempers run high and relationships turn bitter, there is also a propensity to exaggerate the allegations, which does not necessarily Page 3 of 6 Uploaded by SATISH C. VEMULLA(HC00206) on Wed Sep 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Sep 03 23:55:36 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14583/2019 ORDER DATED: 02/09/2025 undefined mean that such domestic disputes should be given the colour of criminality.
33. It goes without saying that genuine cases of cruelty and violence in domestic sphere, which do happen, ought to be handled with utmost sensitivity. Domestic violence typically happens within the four walls of the house and not in the public gaze. Therefore, such violence is not noticed by public at large, except perhaps by the immediate neighbours. Thus, providing visible evidence by the victim of domestic violence may not be easily forthcoming and producing direct evidence may be hard and arduous, which does not necessarily mean that domestic violence does not occur. In fact, to deal with this pernicious phenomenon, stringent statutes like Protection from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, have been enacted with very expansive meaning and scope of what amounts to domestic violence. Since, violence perpetrated within the domestic sphere by close relatives is now criminalised entailing serious consequences on the perpetrators, the courts have to be careful while dealing with such cases by examining whether there are specific allegations with instances against the perpetrators and not generalised allegations. The purpose and mandate of the law to protect the victims of domestic violence is of paramount importance, and as such, a balance has to be struck by ensuring that while perpetrators are brought to book, all the family members or relatives are not indiscriminately brought within the criminal net in a sweeping manner.
34. For a matrimonial relationship which is founded on the basis of cordiality and trust to turn sour to an extent to make a partner to hurl allegations of domestic violence and harassment against the other partner, would normally not happen at the spur of the moment and such acrimonious relationship would develop only in course of time. Accordingly, such a situation would be the culmination of a series of acts which turns, otherwise an amicable relationship, into a fractured one. Thus, in such cases involving allegations of domestic violence or harassment, there would normally be a series of offending acts, which would be required to be spelt out Page 4 of 6 Uploaded by SATISH C. VEMULLA(HC00206) on Wed Sep 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Sep 03 23:55:36 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14583/2019 ORDER DATED: 02/09/2025 undefined by the complainant against the perpetrators in specific terms to rope such perpetrators in the criminal proceedings sought to be initiated against them. Thus, mere general allegation of harassment without pointing out the specifics against such perpetrators would not suffice, as is the case in respect of the present appellants.
35. We are, thus, of the view that in criminal cases relating to domestic violence, the complaints and charges should be specific, as far as possible, as against each and every member of the family who are accused of such offences and sought to be prosecuted, as otherwise, it may amount to misuse of the stringent criminal process by indiscriminately dragging all the members of the family. There may be situations where some of the family members or relatives may turn a blind eye to the violence or harassment perpetrated to the victim, and may not extend any helping hand to the victim, which does not necessarily mean that they are also perpetrators of domestic violence, unless the circumstances clearly indicate their involvement and instigation. Hence, implicating all such relatives without making specific allegations and attributing offending acts to them and proceeding against them without prima facie evidence that they were complicit and had actively collaborated with the perpetrators of domestic violence, would amount to abuse of the process of law."
7. The finding of Apex Court deprecating to invoke other members of husband's family without establishing active involvement or collaboration in perpetuating of domestic violence. As stated earlier apart from generalized and vague allegations and without having any evidence, nothing more is brought on record.
8. In view of the foregoing discussion, the application is partly allowed. The proceedings of Cr.M.A.No.350 of 2019 pending Page 5 of 6 Uploaded by SATISH C. VEMULLA(HC00206) on Wed Sep 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Sep 03 23:55:36 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14583/2019 ORDER DATED: 02/09/2025 undefined before the Court of learned JMFC, Rajkot as well as all consequential proceedings initiated in pursuance thereof are hereby quashed and set aside qua the petitioners nos.4 to 8. Rule is made absolute. Direct service is permitted.
It is made clear that this order shall not influence trial against petitioners nos.1 to 3 viz. husband, brother in law and mother in law of the complainant.
(J. C. DOSHI,J) SATISH Page 6 of 6 Uploaded by SATISH C. VEMULLA(HC00206) on Wed Sep 03 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Sep 03 23:55:36 IST 2025