Telangana High Court
Bhukya Chidambar Rao vs The State Of Telangana on 6 June, 2024
THE HONOURABLE SMT JUSTICE K. SUJANA CRIMINAL PETITION Nos.10160 AND 10161 of 2023 COMMON ORDER:
The lis involved in these twopetitions being one and the same, both the criminal petitions areheard together and are being decided by way of this common order.
2. These Criminal Petitions are filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'Cr.P.C') whereunder, Criminal Petition No.10160 of 2023 is filed by petitioners/accused Nos.2 and 3 and Criminal Petition No.10161 of 2023 is filed by petitioner/accused No.1 seeking to quash the proceedings initiated against themin PRC.No.13 of 2023 on the file of the Principal Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Mahabubabad District, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 498-A, 506, 509 and 307 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'IPC').
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SKS,J Crl.P.Nos.10160&10161 OF 2023
3. The brief facts of the case are that the respondent No.2/de facto complainant lodged a private complaint stating that at the time of her marriage with accused No.1, her parents gave a dowry of Rs.21,50,000/- in the form of cash and 30 tulas of gold ornaments and after living happily for a short period of time, her husband/accused No.1, under the instigation of accused Nos.2 and 3 started harassing her physically and mentally for the purpose of additional dowry of Rs.10,00,000/-. Later, though the father of respondent No.2 transferred an amount of Rs.10,00,000/- to the account of accused No.1, the harassment from the end of accused Nos.1 and 2 continued. Thereafter, when the respondent No.2, along with her kid came to the house of accused No.1 to live, the accused Nos.1 and 2 left their house and began to reside in Hyderabad. However, on 28.08.2021 when the respondent No.2 came back to the house along with her kid, she found that the door lock was broken and accused Nos.1 and 2 were in her room. It was alleged that the accused Nos.1 and 2 3 SKS,J Crl.P.Nos.10160&10161 OF 2023 attempted to kill the respondent NO.2 by hanging her with chuni but she managed to escape in view of several people gathering at the place of incident due to her hues and cries. Further, the respondent NO.2 also alleged that the accused Nos.1 and 2 committed theft of several gold ornaments and other valuable items, as such, requested the Police to take necessary action.
4. Basing on the said complaint, the Police investigated the matter and on completion of due investigation, the Police filed chargesheet against the petitioners in both criminal petitions. Aggrieved thereby, the accused Nos.2 and 3 filed Crl.P.No.10160 of 2023 and accused No.1 filed Crl.P.NO.10161 of 2023.
5. Heard Sri B.Balaji, learned counsel for petitioners in both the matters, and Sri S.Ganesh, learned Public Prosecutor, appearing for respondent No.1 - State. No representation on behalf of respondent No.2/de facto complainant.
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SKS,J Crl.P.Nos.10160&10161 OF 2023
6. Learned counsel for the petitioners/accused Nos.1 to 3 submitted that the allegations leveled against the petitioners are completely baseless, vague and are based on untenable grounds. He contended that the accused Nos.1 to 3 never demanded additional dowry and the amount of Rs.10,00,000/- that was transferred to the account of accused NO.1 by the father of respondent No.2 was for the purpose of purchasing flat in Bangalore and the same was returned by accused No.1 to the father of respondent No.2. He asserted that after the birth of male child, when the accused No.1 demanded divorce from respondent No.2, she never returned to his house and after a gap of three months, she lodged a complaint against the accused No.1. He reiterated that the accused Nos.1 to 3 never harassed the respondent No.2 demanding additional dowry and contended that when the respondent No.2 never lived in the house of accused No.1 after the birth of a child, the question of theft of her belongings does not arise. Therefore, prayed this Court to allow the criminal petitions, quashing the 5 SKS,J Crl.P.Nos.10160&10161 OF 2023 proceedings initiated against the petitioners/accused Nos.1 to 3.
7. On the other hand, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor, contended that there are several serious allegations made against the petitioners/accused Nos.1 to 3, as such, if the proceedings against them are quashed at this stage, grave prejudice would be caused to respondent No.2. Therefore, prayed this Court to dismiss the criminal petitions.
8. Having regard to the rival submissions made and on going through the averments of the chargesheet, it is noted that the family of respondent No.2 gave an amount of Rs.21,50,000/- towards dowry in the form of cash to the accused No.1, as a result of which the respondent NO.2 joined the conjugal society of accused No.1. It is alleged that after living happily for a couple of months, on instigation of accused Nos.2 and 3, the accused No.1 demanded additional dowry to respondent No.1 and harassed her mentally and physically and also 6 SKS,J Crl.P.Nos.10160&10161 OF 2023 threatened to kill her. Allegedly, the family of respondent No.2 gave an amount of Rs.10,00,000/- to accused No.1 towards additional dowry and still the accused Nos.1 to 3 did not change their behavior and intensified their harassment towards respondent No.2 demanding her to arrange more amount towards additional dowry, if not, abetting her to commit suicide stating that they would get more dowry if accused No.1 gets remarried. The averments in the charge sheet would show that the allegations are mainly against accused Nos.1 and 2. There are no specific allegations against accused No.3 and his presence in the theft is also not stated.
9. At this stage, it is imperative to note that to quash the proceedings under Section 482 of Cr.P.C, the Court has to see whether the averments in the complaint prima facie shows that it constitute the offences as alleged by the Police.
10. In addition, it is pertinent to note that paragraph No.14 of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in 7 SKS,J Crl.P.Nos.10160&10161 OF 2023 the case ofState of Madhya Pradesh vs. Surendra Kori 1, reads as under:
"The High Court in exercise of its powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. does not function as a Court of appeal or revision. This Court has, in several judgments, held that the inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr.P.C., though wide, has to be used sparingly, carefully and with caution. The High Court, under Section 482 Cr.P.C., should normally refrain from giving a prima facie decision in a case where the entire facts are incomplete and hazy, more so when the evidence has not been collected and produced before the Court and the issues involved, whether factual or legal, are of wide magnitude and cannot be seen in their true perspective without sufficient material."
11. In view of the facts and circumstances of the cases on hand, and having regard to the law laid down 1 (2012) 10 SCC 155 8 SKS,J Crl.P.Nos.10160&10161 OF 2023 by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the State of Madhya Pradesh vs. Surendra Kori (supra) this Court is of the view that there are no merits in these Criminal Petitions and the same are liable to be dismissed.
12. However, keeping in view the fact that the only allegation levelled against the petitioner No.2 in Crl.P.No.10160 of 2023/accused No.3is that whilst joining hands with accused No.2 she has instigated accused No.1 to demand additional dowry from respondent No.2, there was no role played by her. That being so, this Court is of the considered view that the proceedings against the petitioner No.2 in Crl.P.No.10160 of 2023/accused No.3 are liable to be quashed.
13. In view thereof, in the result, the Crl.P.No.10161 of 2023 filed by accused No.1 is dismissed and the Crl.P.No.10160 of 2023 filed by accused NOs.2 and 3 is partly allowed, and the proceedings against the petitioner No.2/accused No.3 in PRC.No.13 of 2023 on 9 SKS,J Crl.P.Nos.10160&10161 OF 2023 the file of the Principal Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Mahabubabad District, are hereby quashed.
Miscellaneous applications, if any, pending shall stand closed.
______________ K. SUJANA, J Date:06.06.2024 PT