Bikram Bhattacharya & Ors vs Unknown
2022 Latest Caselaw 1878 Cal

07.04.2022

SB Ct. No.35 CRR 193 of 2014 CRAN 2 of 2018

In the matter of : Bikram Bhattacharya & Ors.

                             Mr. Ajay Ray ... for the Petitioners

                             Ms. Faria Hossain
                             Ms. Sreeparna Das          ... for the State

Despite service no one appears on behalf of the

opposite party No. 2.

This is an application for quashing of G.R. No. 1087

of 2013 under section 498A pending before the learned Chief

Judicial Magistrate, Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur. The relevant F.I.R.

under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, was lodged

by the opposite party no.2, claiming that the petitioner no. 1, is her

husband, and petitioner nos. 2,3, 4 and 5, are father-in-law,

mother-in-law, sister-in-law and husband of the sister-in-law

respectively.

It is the case of the petitioners that it has been

declared by a competent Civil Court that the opposite party No. 2

is not the legally married wife of petitioner No. 1. Therefore, this

criminal case is liable to be quashed.

It appears that the petitioner No. 2 filed a Civil Suit

being O.C. Suit No. 144 of 2013 against the opposite party No. 2

and the said suit was decreed ex-parte on September 24, 2013, by

the learned Civil Judge (Junior Division) Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur.

The decree passed in the said suit is quoted below:-

"That the instant suit be and the same is

decreed ex-parte.

It is hereby declared that the defendant's

claim that the plaintiff's son is her husband, is illegal

and against Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

It is also declared that the defendant is hereby

restrained from claiming herself as the legally

married wife of the plaintiff's son so that she may not

falsely implicate the plaintiff and his family in a case

u/s. 498-A of the IPC."

Since it has been decreed by a competent Civil Court

that the claim of opposite party no.2 that she is the wife of

petitioner no. 1 is illegal, and the opposite party no. 2 has also

been restrained by the said decree from claiming herself as legally

married wife of petitioner no.1 this present criminal case cannot

continue. Section 41 of the Indian Evidence Act provides that the

final judgment or order or decree by a competent Civil Court in

exercise of matrimonial jurisdiction which confers upon or takes

away from any person any legal character absolutely is relevant.

Therefore, the competent Civil Court having declared the status of

opposite party no. 2 as not legally married wife of the petitioner no.

1, the present criminal case being G.R. 1087 of 2013 under

Section 498A pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate,

Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur, is liable to be quashed and the same is

accordingly quashed.

CRR 193 of 2014 and CRAN 2 of 2018 are disposed

of.

(Kausik Chanda, J.)