Gujarat High Court

Surendrakumar Hukamchand Goel vs State Of Gujarat on 10 August, 2023

Bench: Sandeep N. Bhatt

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     R/CR.MA/1868/2021                                 ORDER DATED: 10/08/2023

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            IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

             R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION NO. 1868 of 2021

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                    SURENDRAKUMAR HUKAMCHAND GOEL
                                 Versus
                           STATE OF GUJARAT
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Appearance:
MR NAUMAN QURESHI FOR MR SHAKEEL A QURESHI(1077) for the
Applicant(s) No. 1,2,3
MR DHAWAN JAYSWAL, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
RONITH JOY(9560) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
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 CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP N. BHATT

                            Date : 10/08/2023

                             ORAL ORDER

1. The present application is filed under Section

482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (`Code' for

short) with a prayer to quash and set aside the FIR

being C.R.No.11210031200097 of 2020 registered with

Mahila Police Station, Surat for the offences punishable

under Sections 498A, 323, 504, 114, 506(2) of Indian

Penal Code and Sections 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition

Act and further proceedings arising out of the same qua

the present applicants.

2. The facts of the case of the present applicants, as

stated in the application are as under:-

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2.1 The applicants state that the respondent no.2-

complainant has married with accused no.1-Pankajbhai in

the year 1994 i.e. before 26 years and out of wedlock

two children were born, son aged about 25 years and

daughter aged 20 years. The impugned complaint came

to be filed by respondent no.1 on 4.11.2020 mainly

alleging against accused no.1 who is husband that he

was in illicit relationship with Jethani, sister-in-law and

there were allegations regarding the dowry against the

husband and in-laws. It is this complaint which is

prayed to be quashed against the applicants.

3. Heard learned advocate Mr.Nauman Qureshi for the applicants and learned APP Mr.Jayswal for the

respondent no.1 and learned advocate Mr.Joy for

respondent no.2.

3.1. Learned advocate Mr.Qureshi for the applicants

submitted that the applicant no.1 is a senior citizen aged

about 85 years and residing in a village in UP and the

respondent no.1 and her husband were residing in surat

since 22 years; that the applicant nos.2 and 3 have also

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never resided in Surat; that the accused no.1-husband of

respondent no.2 has already been arrested and has been

granted regular bail; that there are no specific

allegations against the applicants; that for the incident of

4.3.1994, the impugned complaint is filed on 4.11.2020

i.e. after 26 years and there is nothing to explain the

delay; that vague and general allegations are made

against the applicants herein. He, therefore, prayed that

the impugned FIR be quashed qua the applicants herein.

3.2 In support of his submission he has placed

reliance in the case of Preeti Gupta & Anr. V/s. State of

Jharkhand & Anr., reported in (2017) 7 SCC 667 and submitted that this is nothing but abuse of the process of law and therefore the impugned FIR is required to be

quashed and set aside.

4. Per contra, learned APP Mr.Jayswal for

respondent no.1 and learned advocate Mr.Roy for the

respondent no.2 has submitted that considering the tenor

of the FIR, prima facie, the ingredients of sections

invoked in the complaint are made out. It is further

submitted, from the affidavit-in-reply filed by respondent

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no.2-complainant, that the ingredients of the sections

invoked in the FIR are satisfied and therefore, this

application may be dismissed. They, therefore, submitted

that there is no case made out to interfere by exercising

powers under Section 482 of the Code as it is a case for

trial.

5. I have considered the rival submissions of the

parties and also the FIR and other documents produced

on record. It transpires that there are marital relations

between the complainant and the accused no.1 since last

about 26 years. That the complaint is filed in the year

2020 for the incidents which have stated to have been

occurred from the year 1994. There is no explanation coming forth for such a long delay in filing the FIR in

question. From the tenor of the FIR, the allegations are

specifically alleged against the husband-accused no.1 and

general and vague allegations are alleged against the

present applicants. It is nowhere stated that the

applicants stayed with the respondent no.2-complainant.

The accused no.1-husband of the respondent no.2-

complainant has been arrested and released on regular

bail. The applicant no.1 is aged about 85 years, residing

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in village, applicant nos.2 and 3 are also residing

separately and there is no specific instance mentioned in

the FIR regarding the torture by the applicants.

6. At this stage, it will be fruitful to mention the

judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of

Preeti Gupta & Anr. (supra), wherein it is observed in

paragraph 33 thus:-

"33. The ultimate object of justice is to find out the truth and punish the guilty and protect the innocent. To find out the truth is a herculean task in majority of these complaints. The tendency of implicating husband and all his immediate relations is also not uncommon. At times, even after the conclusion of criminal trial, it is difficult to ascertain the real truth. The courts have to be extremely careful and cautious in dealing with these complaints and must take pragmatic realities into consideration while dealing with matrimonial cases. The allegations of harassment of husband's close relations who had been living in different cities and never visited or rarely visited the place where the complainant resided would have an entirely different complexion. The allegations of the complaint are required to be scrutinized with great care and circumspection. Experience reveals that long and protracted criminal trials lead to rancour, acrimony and bitterness in

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the relationship amongst the parties. It is also a matter of common knowledge that in cases filed by the complainant if the husband or the husband's relations had to remain in jail even for a few days, it would ruin the chances of amicable settlement altogether. The process of suffering is extremely long and painful."

7. Further, it will also be fruitful to mention the

judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of State

of Haryana V/s Bhajan Lal reported in AIR 1992 SC 604, wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court has observed thus -

"In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relevant provisions of the Code under Ch.XIV and of the principles of law enunciated by this court in a series of decisions relating to the exercise of the extraordinary power under Art.226 or the inherent powers under sec.482 of the Code which we have extracted and reproduced above, we give the following categories of cases by way of illustration wherein such power could be exercised either to prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice, though it may not be possible to lay down any precise, clearly defined and sufficiently channelised and inflexible guidelines or rigid formulae and to give an exhaustive list of myriad kinds of cases wherein such power

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should be exercised.

(1) Where the allegations made in the first information report or the complaint, even if they are taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused.

(2) Where the allegations in the first information report and other materials, if any, accompanying the FIR do not disclose a cognizable offence, justifying an investigation by police officers under sec.156(1) of the Code except under an order of a Magistrate within the purview of sec.155(2) of the Code.

(3) Where the uncontroverted allegations made in the FIR or complaint and the evidence collected in support of the same do not disclose the commission of any offence and make out a case against the accused.

(4) Where, the allegations in the FIR do not constitute a cognizable offence but constitute only a non-cognizable offence, no investigation is permitted by a police officer without an order of a Magistrate as contemplated under sec.156(2) of the Code.

(5) Where the allegations made in the FIR or complaint are

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so absurd and inherently improbable on the basis of which no prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused.

(6) Where there is an express legal bar engrafted in any of the provisions of the Code or the concerned Act (under which a criminal proceeding is instituted) to the institution and continuance of the proceedings and/or where there is a specific provision in the Code or the concerned Act, providing efficacious redress for the grievance of the aggrieved party.

(7) Where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge."

8. In view of the above and on perusing the

contents of the FIR, it appears that the applicants are

unnecessary roped in by the complainant and there are

casual references made by her without allegations of

active involvement and no specific instances are narrated

by the complainant. No specific details are stated in the

FIR and the allegations against the applicants who are

father-in-law, sister-in-law and son of the sister-in-law

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are also general and vague and are bereft of specific