Gujarat High Court
Parulben W/O. Dilipkumar Patel vs State Of Gujarat on 2 September, 2024
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/2086/2021 ORDER DATED: 02/09/2024
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR QUASHING & SET ASIDE
FIR/ORDER) NO. 2086 of 2021
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PARULBEN W/O. DILIPKUMAR PATEL
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR PRATIK B BAROT(3711) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR SHUBHAM JHAJHARIA(10231) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MR TRUPESH KATHIRIYA, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HASMUKH D. SUTHAR
Date : 02/09/2024
ORAL ORDER
1. By way of the present application under Section 482 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as
"Cr.P.C."), the applicant has prayed to quash and set aside the
complaint being C.R. No.11191030200071 of 2020 registered
with Mahila Police Station (West), Ahmedabad City for the
offences under Sections 498A, 323, 294(b) and 114 of Indian
Penal Code, 1860 as well as all the consequential proceedings
arising therefrom.
2 Heard learned advocate for the respective parties.
3. Brief facts of the present case leading to the present
complaint are that ; Respondent No. 2, in her capacity as the
original informant of the case, has filed an FIR detailing her
marriage to the original accused No. 4, which took place on
December 24, 2018, with all community rites and rituals. Her
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husband, now residing in Texas, USA, and Respondent No. 2
initially lived in a joint family at Ghatlodia, Ahmedabad. She
claims that for the first 15 days of their marriage, she was treated
well. However, during a dinner party, her husband reportedly
imposed conditions that she must dress in western attire if she
wanted to join him in America. The conditions were reportedly
communicated in a drunken state. Her brother, Praful, visited to
address the issue, but the husband allegedly used abusive
language towards him. Despite attempts by her father and
brother to resolve the matter, her husband continued to insult
them and threatened divorce if she didn't conform to his
demands. Respondent No. 2 alleges that her in-laws and the
present applicant, her sister-in-law, sided with her husband and
scolded her when she complained, urging her not to file an FIR to
avoid ruining her marriage. Additionally, Respondent No. 2 claims
her in-laws taunted her about not bringing dowry and pressured
her to bring money from her parental home. On February 5, 2019,
her husband moved to Texas, leaving her with her in-laws. She
accuses the present applicant of instigating her in-laws against
her, causing frequent quarrels and mental distress. In September
2019, after she sustained a leg fracture, her father-in-law
allegedly forced her to clean the temple area of the house,
resulting in a physical altercation. Despite community
intervention, her father-in-law refused to resolve the issue.
Shortly after, the present applicant allegedly took her in-laws
away, and her husband ignored her calls and messages. In
November 2019, her elder brother-in-law informed her that her
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in-laws had moved to Canada and planned to settle in America,
with her Green Card process underway. By August 2020, she
learned that her husband had divorced her in America without
informing her. Attempts to contact her husband, in-laws, and the
present applicant were met with silence, leading to the FIR
against them.
4. Learned advocate for the applicant submits that the
applicant herein has nothing to do with the offence and has been
falsely implicated in the present case. A bare perusal of the FIR
reveals that all the facts narrated are either false or twisted with
the intent to mislead the court and the investigating authority. In
the present case, the applicant is sister-in-law and she has been
falsely arraigned as accused and the allegations against her is
false and frivolous. She has been roped into the present criminal
proceedings to pressurize the other applicant into a quick and
beneficial monetary settlement for the complainant. The
allegations made against the accused have no basis. All the
allegations are general in nature. It is further submitted that
present applicant - accused No.1 is Sister-in-law, who is residing
separately and the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court has been
pleased to quash and set aside the complaint qua Accused Nos.2
to 4 vide order dated 22.04.2024. In view of above the present
application may be allowed.
4.1. It is further submitted that the complaint was filed with an
intention to tarnish the social and economic prestige of the
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applicant. All allegations of physical, verbal, and emotional
torture are false and baseless. None of the incidents alleged in
the complaint ever took place. Even if the allegations made in the
complaint are taken at face value, they do not attract the
provisions of the Indian Penal Code. Even if the entire complaint
is read in its entirety, the allegations made against the applicant
are of such a general and ambiguous nature that they are not
supported by any evidence. Therefore, the learned advocate for
the applicant requests that the present application be allowed.
5. The learned APP appearing for the respondent-State has
opposed the application and submitted that the complainant was
subjected to mental and physical harassment by the accused and
also received life threats. The accused made her life hard to live,
compelling her to leave her matrimonial home. In view of the
above, the learned APP requested that the application be
dismissed.
6. Having heard the learned advocates for the respective
parties and considering the facts and circumstances of the case,
It appears that the present applicant is sister-in-law and she has
been falsely arraigned as an accused and the allegations against
her are false and frivolous. She has been roped into the present
criminal proceedings to pressurize the other applicant into a
quick and beneficial monetary settlement for the complainant
during the divorce. The allegations made against her are general
in nature and have no basis. It appears that due to continuous
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mental and physical harassment by her in-laws, the complainant
has filed the present complaint. The present applicant is residing
separately and the allegations against her are general, such as
instigating and verbally harassing the complainant. It appears
that that Sister-in-law is residing separately and the Co-ordinate
Bench of this Court has been pleased to quash and set aside the
complaint qua Accused Nos.2 to 4 vide order dated 22.04.2024.
In view of above, the present application deserves consideration.
6.1. Considering the aforesaid fact, this Court is of the
considered view that this is a clear case of over implication and
there is no positive act on the constant harassment, either
mental or physical harassment on the part of the present
accused. With a view to pressurize them, they have dragged into
litigation. In view of above, the present complaint deserves to be
quashed. It appears that applicant are facing charge of Section
498A of IPC. Therefore, as per the allegations made in the
complaint, ingredient of Section 498A is made out. In this regard,
it would be apposite to refer the decisions of the Apex Court in
cases of (i) Abhishek vs. State of Madhya Pradesh reported in
2023INSC779 / (Criminal Appeal No. 1457 of 2015), (ii) Achin
Gupta V. State of Haryana, 2024 INSC 369, (iii) Preeti Gupta
and another vs. State of Jharkhand, another [(2010) 7 SCC
667], it is observed that "this Court noted that the tendency to
implicate the husband and all his immediate relations is also not
uncommon in complaints filed under Section 498A IPC. It was
observed that the Courts have to be extremely careful and cautious
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in dealing with these complaints and must take pragmatic realities
into consideration while dealing with matrimonial cases, as
allegations of harassment by husband's close relations, who were
living in different cities and never visited or rarely visited the place
where the complainant resided, would add an entirely different
complexion and such allegations would have to be scrutinised with
great care and circumspection."
6.2. In case of Geeta Mehrotra and Anr. vs. State of Uttar
Pradesh & Anr. reported in (2012)10 SCC 741, the Hon'ble
Supreme Court observed as under:-
"19. Coming to the facts of this case, when the contents
of the FIR is perused, it is apparent that there are no
allegations against Kumari Geeta Mehrotra and Ramji
Mehrotra except casual reference of their names who
have been included in the FIR but mere casual reference
of the names of the family members in a matrimonial
dispute without allegation of active involvement in the
matter would not justify taking cognizance against them
overlooking the fact borne out of experience that there is
a tendency to involve the entire family members of the
household in the domestic quarrel taking place in a
matrimonial dispute specially if it happens soon after the
wedding.
20. It would be relevant at this stage to take note of an
apt observation of this Court recorded in the matter of
G.V. Rao vs. L.H.V. Prasad & Ors. reported in (2000) 3 SCC
693 wherein also in a matrimonial dispute, this Court had
held that the High Court should have quashed the
complaint arising out of a matrimonial dispute wherein
all family members had been roped into the matrimonial
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litigation which was quashed and set aside. Their
Lordships observed therein with which we entirely agree
that:
"there has been an outburst of matrimonial dispute
in recent times. Marriage is a sacred ceremony,
main purpose of which is to enable the young
couple to settle down in life and live peacefully.
But little matrimonial skirmishes suddenly erupt
which often assume serious proportions resulting in
heinous crimes in which elders of the family are
also involved with the result that those who could
have counselled and brought about rapprochement
are rendered helpless on their being arrayed as
accused in the criminal case. There are many
reasons which need not be mentioned here for not
encouraging matrimonial litigation so that the
parties may ponder over their defaults and
terminate the disputes amicably by mutual
agreement instead of fighting it out in a court of
law where it takes years and years to conclude and
in that process the parties lose their "young" days
in chasing their cases in different courts." The view
taken by the judges in this matter was that the
courts would not encourage such disputes.
21. In yet another case reported in AIR 2003 SC
1386 in the matter of B.S. Joshi & Ors. vs. State of
Haryana & Anr. it was observed that there is no
doubt that the object of introducing Chapter XXA
containing Section 498A in the Indian Penal Code
was to prevent the torture to a woman by her
husband or by relatives of her husband. Section
498A was added with a view to punish the husband
and his relatives who harass or torture the wife to
coerce her relatives to satisfy unlawful demands of
dowry. But if the proceedings are initiated by the
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wife under Section 498A against the husband and
his relatives and subsequently she has settled her
disputes with her husband and his relatives and the
wife and husband agreed for mutual divorce,
refusal to exercise inherent powers by the High
Court would not be proper as it would prevent
woman from settling earlier. Thus for the purpose
of securing the ends of justice quashing of FIR
becomes necessary, Section 320 Cr.P.C. would not
be a bar to the exercise of power of quashing. It
would however be a different matter depending
upon the facts and circumstances of each case
whether to exercise or not to exercise such a
power."
6.3. So far as offence under Sections 498A and 323 of IPC are
also concerned, in this regard, it would be apposite the refer the
judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Kahkasan Kausar
alias Sonam and Ors. vs. State of Bihar and Ors. reported in
(2022) 6 SCC 599. Even, no allegation is levelled against the
present accused to cause any injury to the complainant and no
any evidence or medical certificate is produced about the
treatment of alleged injury.
7. So far allegations under Section 294(b) of Indian Penal
Code, 1860 is concerned, no case is made out to attract this
Section.
8. Reference is required to be made in case of State of
Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, reported in 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335, the
Apex Court has set out the categories of cases in which the
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inherent power under Section 482 CrPC can be exercised and
held in para 102 as under:
"102. In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various
relevant provisions of the Code under Chapter 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 Section 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 :
(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, 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."
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9. In the result, the applications are allowed only qua
applicant. The impugned complaint being C.R.
No.11191030200071 of 2020 registered with Mahila Police
Station (West), Ahmedabad City as well as all consequential
proceedings initiated in pursuance thereof are hereby quashed
and set aside only qua applicant herein. Rule is made absolute to
the aforesaid extent. Direct service is permitted.
(HASMUKH D. SUTHAR,J)
KUMAR ALOK
