Gujarat High Court

Ruturaj Mukundbhai Vyas vs State Of Gujarat on 6 June, 2023

Bench: Sandeep N. Bhatt

     R/CR.MA/818/2021                            JUDGMENT DATED: 06/06/2023




             IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

               R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION NO. 818 of 2021


FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:


HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP N. BHATT

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1     Whether Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed
      to see the judgment ?

2     To be referred to the Reporter or not ?

3     Whether their Lordships wish to see the fair copy
      of the judgment ?

4     Whether this case involves a substantial question
      of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution
      of India or any order made thereunder ?

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                        RUTURAJ MUKUNDBHAI VYAS
                                 Versus
                           STATE OF GUJARAT
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Appearance:
DHRUVIK K PATEL(7769) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2,3,4
MR RONAK RAVAL, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
RULE SERVED BY DS for the Respondent(s) No. 2
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    CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP N. BHATT

                             Date : 06/06/2023

                            ORAL JUDGMENT

1. The present application is filed under Section

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

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short) with the following prayers:

"8(A) YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to quash and set aside First Information Report registered as CR No.I- 11203040200056 of 2020 with Mahila Police Station, Junagadh Police Station, District - Junagadh, under section 498A, 323, 504, 506(2), 406, 420, 114 of Indian Penal Code along with all the prior and subsequent proceedings thereto;

(AA) pending admission and final disposal of this application, the pleased to quash and set aside charge-sheet no.02-2021 filed in CR. No.I-11203040200056 of 2020 with Mahila Police Station, Junagadh Police Station, District - Junagadh.

(B) Pending, hearing and final disposal of this petition, YOUR LORDSHIP may be pleased to stay the further investigation of FIR registered as CR.No.I-11203040200056 of 2020 with Mahila Poice Station, Junagadh Police Station, District - Junagadh, under section 498A, 323, 504, 506(2), 406, 420, 114 of Indian Penal Code along with all the prior and subsequent proceedings thereto;

(BB) Pending an admission and final disposal of this application be pleased to stay for the proceedings of criminal case no.257 of 2021 pending before Hon'ble additional judicial magistrate, Junagadh pursuant to charge-sheet no.02-

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2021 filed in CR.No.I-11203040200056 of 2020 with Mahila Police Station, Junagadh Police Station, District - Junagadh.

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

under:-

2.1 The applicants state that FIR being C.R.No.I-

11203040200056 of 2020 came to be registered with

Mahila Police Station, Junagadh on 19.10.2020 by the

complainant for the offences punishable under Sections

498A, 323, 504, 506(2), 406, 420 and 114 of Indian

Penal Code inter alia stating that that she had married with the applicant No.1 as per Hindu rituals on

28.1.2019 at Junagadh and has no children out of the

wedlock. That, after marriage, the complainant started

residing with the applicants at Ahmedabad in a joint

family and after some time, the applicants, out of doubts

and suspicions on the complainant, used to taunt the

complainant on trivial issues and household works. That,

the complainant studied B.H.M.S. and though the

applicants agreed to continue her studies and do job

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also, they never gave her time to study and used to

mentally torture her and demand dowry. That, somehow,

the complainant obtained job and the applicants used

take away her salary and beat her. That the

complainant was subjected to torture and had driven her

out of the house and after some time, they brought her

back. That, because of the said torture, the complainant

gave an application to the Mahila Police Station,

Junagadh against the applicants, however, settlement was

arrived at in that complaint and assurance was given by

the applicants that there will be no harassment to the

complainant. A complaint was also given to the Mahila

Mandal, wherein also the settlement was arrived at and

the complainant had agreed to go back to the applicants. That, around ten months ago, the applicants nos.1 to 3

quarreled with the complainant, and dropped her at her

parental house and told her father that they want to go

to foreign country and they don't want to keep the

complainant and they want divorce from the complainant

and when the father of the complainant tried to explain

to the petitioner, petitioner started quarreling and

speaking abusive language. The complainant gave legal

notice dated 10.9.2020 through advocate, which was not

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replied by the applicants, the complainant demanded her

salary amount and also Stridhan of the complainant,

which was refused by the complainant. Thus, the

impugned complaint is filed.

3. Heard learned advocate Mr.Dhruvik Patel for the

applicants and learned APP Mr.Ronak Raval for the

respondent no.1. Though served, none appears for

respondent no.2.

3.1. Learned advocate Mr.Patel for the applicants

submitted that the FIR is filed after a delay of almost

eleven months. There is specific allegation regarding any

sort of demand raised by the applicants and no other particulars are given. He has submitted that the

allegations made in the present FIR are general in

nature and it is filed with an oblique motive to exert

pressure on the applicants. He submitted that the

applicant no.1 is the husband, applicant nos.2 and 3 are

the mother-in-law and father-in-law of the complainant

and the applicant no.4 is the sister-in-law of the

complainant. He has drawn my attention of the copy of

the passport of applicant no.4 and submitted that at the

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time the FIR was lodged, she was residing at Canada.

He has further submitted that there is no specific

allegation against any of the applicants in the FIR. The

complainant herself is a doctor by profession.

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.Raval has

submitted that considering the tenor of the FIR, prima facie, the ingredients of Sections 498A, 323, 504, 506(2),

406 and 420 of Indian Penal Code are made out. He has

further submitted that the considering the short span of

marriage, the Court has to take into consideration the

allegations made in the FIR which constitute the offences

against the present applicants. He, 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.

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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 applicant no.1 i.e. they

are wife and husband and their marriage span is of

more than one year; that the marriage is solemnized on

28.1.2019 and they started staying away from 1.12.2019;

that there are exchanges of notices between the

applicants and the complainant, where they have made

allegations and counter allegations against each other;

that no specific incident is stated in the FIR which is

the primary specific requirement of the sections invoked

by the complainant. Moreover, the entire family members are implicated by the complainant and though the sister-

in-law-applicant no.4 herein was staying separately at

Canada at that time, she is also implicated in the

complaint.

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:-

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"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 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

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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 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

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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 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,

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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 applicant no.1

and other family members of the applicant no.1 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. The allegations against the applicant nos.2 to 4,

who are father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law,

are also general and vague and are bereft of specific

instances. There is no active involvement established of

the applicants in meting out cruelty from the contents of

the F.I.R.