Manchaben Pravinbhai Chauhan vs State Of Gujarat
2023 Latest Caselaw 8031 Guj

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     R/CR.MA/13799/2015                         ORDER DATED: 02/11/2023

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             IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

     R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR QUASHING & SET ASIDE
                   FIR/ORDER) NO. 13799 of 2015
                              With
          R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION NO. 15272 of 2015
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               MANCHABEN PRAVINBHAI CHAUHAN & 1 other(s)
                               Versus
                     STATE OF GUJARAT & 1 other(s)
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Appearance:
DARSHIT R BRAHMBHATT(8011) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2
MR VINOD M GAMARA(5910) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MS MONALI BHATT, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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 CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP N. BHATT

                            Date : 02/11/2023

                             ORAL ORDER

1. By way of these applications, the applicants are

challenging the proceeding pursuant to the FIR registered at

C.R.No.I-26 of 2015 dated 26.4.2015 under Sections 498A,

306, 506 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code with the Vaso

Police Station, District : Kheda - Nadiad.

2. The brief facts of the prosecution case are such

that accused No.1, by an instigation of accused No.2 to 5,

harassed the deceased mentally and physically, by making

quarrel for the house-hold chores and thereby compelled for

suicide.

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3. Heard learned advocate Mr.Brahmbhatt for the

applicants, learned advocate Mr.Gamara for respondent no.2

in Criminal Miscellaneous Application No.13799 of 2015 and

learned APP Ms.Bhatt for respondent no.1-state.

3.1 Learned advocate Mr.Brahmbhatt for the applicants

has drawn my attention to the papers of the chargesheet

which is filed during the pendency of this application and

though this Court has granted interim relief, not to proceed

further pursuant to the FIR, however, it seems that the said

order is not taken into consideration while the chargesheet is

filed by the investigating agency. It is expected that such

mistake will not be repeated by the concerned investigating

officer in future.

3.2 He has further submitted that this Court has

granted interim relief in the year 2015 and essentially, from

the bare reading of the FIR, even on the perusal of the

chargesheet, the allegations pertain to the continuous

harassment - physical and mental torture are against the

husband - Jayantibhai, who has expired during the pendency

of these applications on 26.7.2023. Now, the remaining

applicants are brother in law and sister in law of the

deceased. From reading of the FIR, which is lodged by the

mother of the deceased, whereby it is specifically stated that

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the deceased was residing with the present applicants in

early days of marriage and thereafter she has separated from

the present applicants and residing separately with her

husband. It transpires that due to some harassment on the

part of the husband - Jayantibhai and in a particular day,

when the marriage of near cousin of the deceased was

arranged, the allegation in the complaint is that at the

instance of the present applicants, her husband has not

permitted her to attend the marriage and has given some

mental and physical torture to the deceased and therefore,

she has committed suicide. There is no direct allegation

against any of the accused except instigation by the husband

and that is also it is general in nature.

3.3 He has submitted that even the ingredients of

Section 498A of the IPC are not satisfied looking to the

allegations made in the FIR against the present applicants

and ingredients of Section 306 read with Section 107 of IPC

are not prima facie satisfied against the present applicants.

The continuation of proceedings will amount to abuse of

process of law. It is further submitted that even no

statements are recorded of the independent neighbours by the

investigation. The statements which are recorded, are of the

near relatives of the deceased who have given similar nature

of statements which are alleged in the FIR. He has further

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submitted that there is no prior complaint lodged either

before the police authority or before any NGO regarding any

torture by the deceased or by any family members for the

deceased. Therefore, considering the judgment of Preeti Gupta

& Anr. V/s. State of Jharkhand & Anr., reported in (2017) 7 SCC 667 and considering the various judgments of the

Hon'ble Apex Court and of this Court, prima facie ingredients

of Sections 306 and 498A are not satisfied. He, therefore,

submitted that this Court may quash the impugned FIR and

the consequential proceedings, as the continuation of the

proceedings will amount to abuse of process of law and

undue harassment caused to the present applicants.

4. Per contra, learned APP Ms.Bhatt has strongly opposed the contentions raised by the applicants and

submitted that prima facie material is found against the

present applicants. From the statements of near relatives of

the deceased, it transpires that the averments made in the

FIR are supported. She has further submitted that now the

charge- sheet is already filed during pendency of this

application and the material which is available on record is

required to tested by leading evidence during the course of

trial and therefore, she has prayed that this Court may not

exercise powers under Section 482 of the Code at this stage,

as such powers should be exercised very sparingly.

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5. Learned advocate Mr.Gamara has also supported

the contentions raised by learned APP and has submitted

that when there is prima facie material available on the

record and chargesheet is also filed, this Court may dismiss

this application filed by the present applicants.

6. I have considered rival submissions made by the

learned advocates for the respective parties. I have also

considered the material produced on record, including the FIR

which is filed for the offences punishable under Sections 306,

498A, 506, 114 and 107 of the IPC. Considering the tenor of

the FIR, especially the allegations are made against

Jayantilal, who happens to be the husband of the deceased,

otherwise from the FIR itself, it transpires that the present

applicants who happens to be brother-in-law and sister-in-law

of the deceased, are residing separately from the deceased.

Further, the incident has taken place as the deceased was

not permitted to attend the marriage of near relative by the

husband and the allegation due to instigation of the present

applicants, the husband has not permitted the deceased to

attend the function. Considering such allegation and

considering the material available on the record, by way of

chargesheet, the various statements which are recorded of the

near relatives are also supporting the case of the prosecution

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to the above extent and from the material available on

record, it cannot be said that there is proximity between the

incident and any act of accused and further that the

ingredients which disclosed eminent instigation of the

deceased was also missing qua the present applicants.

Considering the judgment in the case of Preeti Gupta (supra)

and considering the judgment of this Hon'ble Court in the

case of Dipak Jayarm Viras versus State of Gujarat reported

in 2023(0) JX(Guj) 376 and considering the settled legal

position of law, now-a-days it is found that when such

unfortunate incident happens, the entire family members of

the in-laws are tried to implicate irrespective of any active

participation of such members in the commission of such

offence. Therefore, considering that aspect also and the

Hon'ble Apex Court has also taken cognizance of such

incident and observed that such practice can be deprecated

and also directed the investigating agency to inquire in detail

before registering such offence against all the family

members. From the bare reading of FIR and evidence

available on record, admittedly, the deceased was residing

separately from the present applicants and except, general

allegation about instigation by the husband of the deceased,

no allegation is found against the present applicants and

therefore, no ingredients of Section 306 and 498A of IPC are

prima facie not satisfied and the present FIR which is filed

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against the present applicants are considered as grudge

against the present applicants as they are happen to be the

brother in law and sister in law of the husband of the

deceased. Therefore, considering the decisions of the State of

Haryana V/s Bhajanlal & Ors. Reported in AIR 1992 SC

604. and Inder Mohan Goswami and Another versus State of Uttaranchal reported in (2007) 12 SCC 1, this is a fit case where the Court should exercise the discretion and inherent

powers under Section 498A by allowing these applications by

quashing the impugned FIR and consequential proceedings.

7. Resultantly, these applications are allowed. The

impugned FIR being C.R.No.I-26 of 2015 registered with the

Vaso Police Station, District : Kheda - Nadiad and all other

consequential proceedings, if any, arising out of said FIR, qua

the applicants, are hereby quashed and set aside. Direct

service is permitted.

(SANDEEP N. BHATT,J) SRILATHA