CORAM :- HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE S.PUJAHARI
CRLMC NO.412 OF 2010
Damayanti Misra.
........ Petitioner
-Versus-
State of Orissa & another.
........ Opp.parties
ORDER
In the wake of the pandemic Covid-19, the
17. 04.01.2021 case was taken up through V.C.
2. This application under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. has been filed for quashing of the entire proceeding in C.T.(GR) Case No.49 of 2010, corresponding to Soro P.S. Case No.27 of 2010, pending in the Court of the learned J.M.F.C., Soro.
3. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned order and other relevant papers on record vis-à-vis the grounds taken by the accused-petitioners vide his application under Section 482 of Cr.P.C.
4. The prosecution against the present petitioner has been launched vide the case indicated above pursuant to the F.I.R. lodged by the present opposite 2 party no.1-informant on the accusation, inter-alia, that the petitioner and the co-accused persons abetted commission of suicide of Nrusingha Charan Panda, the deceased husband of the Informant. According to the prosecution, the petitioner falsely claiming to be the wife of the deceased - Nrusingha, and in furtherance of her intention common to the co-accused persons, subjected the deceased - Nrusingha to vexatious litigations leading to severe mental torture to him and thereby committed abetment of his suicide. On the basis of the charge- sheet submitted by the police, the learned Magistrate has taken cognizance of offence under Section 306/34 of IPC against the petitioner and the co- accused persons.
5. Seeking quashment of the said proceeding, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits, inter-alia, that the materials on record do not make out any case under Section 306 of IPC against the petitioner who was evidently away from the deceased
- Nrusingha, being in a state of desertion and 3 deprivation. It is his further contention that since the petitioner had initiated some legal proceedings in assertion and substantiation of her right and claim against the deceased, and that in order to deprive her from her legitimate claim, the present prosecution has been falsely launched against her at the instance of the Informant, after the suicidal death of Nrusingha. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, continuance of the impugned proceeding before the Court below would be an abuse of the process of the Court causing gross prejudice to the petitioner. The learned counsel for the petitioner in support of his contention has placed reliance on a decision of the Apex Court in the case of State of Haryana and others vrs. Ch. Bhajan Lal and others, reported in 1992 AIR 604.
In course of the argument, the learned counsel has further submitted that at the instance of the petitioner, there was initiated a prosecution under Sections 494/498A/506 of IPC vide C.T. Case No.1362 of 2009 in the court of the S.D.J.M., 4 Balasore corresponding to Balasore Town P.S. Case No.274 dated 17.07.2009 against Late Nrusingha and although he had approached this Court to quash the investigation of the said case vide CRLMC No.2630 of 2009, this Court vide the judgment dated 23.12.2009 dismissed the said CRLMC.
6. Per contra, the learned counsel appearing for the Informant-opposite party no.2 and also the learned counsel for the State submit that this being not a stage to take into account the probable defence plea of the accused-petitioner, and the prosecution launched being backed by enough materials to show criminal indulgence of the petitioner resulting in suicidal death of the deceased - Nrusingha, this Court should not interfere with the proceeding of the case pending in the Court below.
7. There is no controversy on record that Nrusingha died a suicidal death. It is also an admitted fact that by the time of such incident, the deceased was subjected to criminal proceedings initiated at the instance of the present petitioner. 5 While according to the petitioner, she happened to be the first wife of Nrusingha, the Informant-opposite party no.2 happened to be the married wife of the deceased and she (informant) was alleged by the petitioner to be the second wife of the Nrusingha.
8. 'Abetment' is constituted of instigating a person to commit an offence / indulgence, or engaging in a conspiracy to commit it, or intentionally aiding a person to commit it. In the case at hand, as it appears, the petitioner along with the co-accused persons is alleged to have instigated the deceased to go for a suicide, by giving him mental torture and other harassments through litigations, character assassination, harming official position etc. The ingredients of an offence under Section 306 of IPC are mostly gathered from circumstantial evidence, and at the threshold of the proceeding, it is neither desirable nor permissible to go deep into the materials for any threadbare analysis. On taking a prima-facie view of the available materials on record, this Court does not 6 feel to interfere with the proceeding, by taking recourse to Section 482 of Cr.P.C.
9. Hence, this CRLMC stands dismissed being devoid of merit.
The parties may utilize the copy of this order as per the High Court's Notice No.4587 dated 25.03.2020.
...........................
S.Pujahari, J.
MRS 7