Gujarat High Court
Patel Dipikaben W/O Rohitkumar ... vs State Of Gujarat on 31 July, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/17763/2021 ORDER DATED: 31/07/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR QUASHING & SET ASIDE
FIR/ORDER) NO. 17763 of 2021
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PATEL DIPIKABEN W/O ROHITKUMAR NATVARLAL & ORS.
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR PAWAN A BAROT(6455) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2,3
MS SWETA P BAROT(10181) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2,3
MR TIRTHRAJ PANDYA, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
RULE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J. C. DOSHI
Date : 31/07/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. The present application is filed under Section 482 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (`Code' for short) with the following
prayers:
"9(a) This Hon'ble Court be pleased to admit this application.
(b) This Hon'ble Court be pleased to quash and set aside the
F.I.R. filed before Unja Police, Mahesana vide I CR No.9 of
2019 along with charge sheet dated 03/04/2019 which
culminated in criminal case no.847 of 2019, pending in the
court of Ld.JMFC, Unja and all the prior and subsequent
proceedings thereto against present Applicants.
(c) This Hon'ble Court be pleased to pending the admission,
hearing and final hearing of this petition, this Hon'ble Court
be pleased to stay the further proceeding of criminal case
no.847 of 2019, pending in the court of Ld.JMFC, Unja
pertaining to FIR dated 03/10/2019 vide I C.R.No.9 of 2019
registered before Unja Police Station, Mehsana and all other
proceeding thereto.
2. The facts of the case of the present applicants are as under:-
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2.1 The applicants state that the impugned FIR is filed by the
respondent no.2-complainant stating that she is residing at
Amikunj Society, Ahmedabad highway, Palanpur, District
Banaskantha and is serving as a primary teacher at village
Malan; that she and original accused no.1 got married prior to
eight years at village Brahmanvada and from the said wedlock,
one male child was born who is aged two years; that as she is
serving, she used to keep the son in the holidays and in routine
days, the son resides at her matrimonial house; that on
14.1.2019 in the evening at 8 p.m., the complainant went to
drop the son at matrimonial house and she came to know that
her father-in-law had expired in the morning and she was not
informed due to which there was fight with her husband and her
husband gave kick and fist blows to her and all the family
members of the husband had provoked him; that all in-laws gave
kick and fist blows to her and abused the complainant and one
of the brother-in-law gave slap to the complainant and another
brother-in-law gave threats to life and as she felt that she is not
safe, she left for one relative house at Siddhapur and on next
day reached to Palanpur and as she was feeling pain, she went
to civil hospital, Palanpur; that as there was previous
harassment, she lodged the impugned complaint for the offences
punishable under Sections 498A, 323, 504, 506(2) and 114 of
the Indian Penal Code. It is this complaint which is prayed to be
quashed by way of this application by the applicants herein who
are the sister-in-law of the complainant and her husband.
3. Heard learned advocate Mr.Pawan Barot for the applicants,
learned APP Mr.Tirthraj Pandya for the respondent State.
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3.1. Learned advocate Mr.Barot for the applicants submitted
that the complaint is filed against the husband and all his family
members; that the sisters-in-law and their respective husbands
are residing separately at their matrimonial house since long and
they are roped in the alleged offence with malafide intention; that
the applicants herein are residing separately at Patan, then
Kutch-Bhuj and presently at Ahmedabad; that the span of
marriage life is more than eight years; that the complainant had
served for seven years as teacher at Surat and then transferred
to Malan, Palanpur and had never resided together in joint
family; that the allegations made in the complaint are general in
nature and the essential ingredients of the offence punishable
under Section 498A of the IPC are not made out. He, therefore,
submitted that this application be allowed.
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.Pandya for respondent State has
submitted that considering the tenor of the FIR, prima facie, the
ingredients of Sections 498A, 323, 504, 506(2), and 114 of
Indian Penal Code are made out. It is further submitted that 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
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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 original accused no.1 i.e. they are wife and
husband and their marriage span is of more than eight years;
that the marriage is solemnized on 18.5.2010 and as the
complainant was serving, she stayed away from her matrimonial
house; 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 applicants who are sister-in-
law and her husband were staying separately since long, they
are roped 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:-
"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
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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 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
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
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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, 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 unnecessarily 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 applicants who
are sister-in-law and her husband are also general and vague
and are bereft of specific instances. There is no active
involvement established of the applicants in meting out cruelty
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from the contents of the F.I.R.
9. In this view of the matter, this is a fit case to exercise the
inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code. Accordingly, this
application is allowed. The impugned FIR registered with Unja
Police, Mahesana vide I CR No.9 of 2019 along with charge sheet
dated 03/04/2019 which culminated in criminal case no.847 of
2019, pending in the court of Ld.JMFC, Unja and all the prior
and subsequent proceedings thereto are hereby quashed and
set aside against the applicants. Direct service is permitted.
(J. C. DOSHI,J)
SATISH
