Gujarat High Court
Narmadaben W/O. Mahendrabhai ... vs State Of Gujarat on 3 August, 2023
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION NO. 14696 of 2017
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NARMADABEN W/O. MAHENDRABHAI SHANABHAI PATEL & 3 other(s)
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & 1 other(s)
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Appearance:
MR PADMRAJ K JADEJA(2095) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2,3,4
MR DHAWAN JAYSWAL, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
RULE SERVED THRU CONCERNED POLICE STN for the Respondent(s)
No. 2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP N. BHATT
Date : 03/08/2023
ORAL ORDER
1. Pursuant to the earlier order passed by this Court, learned APP has tendered report received from Shri P.S. Vasava, Police Inspector, Jhoj Police Station, whereby, he has given explanation by trying to point out the facts of the matter and has submitted that as per his opinion, prima-facie offence is made out as the FIR is registered under Sections-498(A), 306 & 114 of IPC. Such report given by the concerned Police Station is taken on record.
2. The report is not giving any explanation about how the Page 1 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined offence is made out under Sections 498A, 306 of IPC against the present accused persons. Therefore, from this report, no explanation is coming out on the record that why the offence is required to be registered against the present petitioners under the provisions of Sections-498(A), 306 & 114 of IPC. Therefore, this Court is not satisfied with the explanation given by the concerned Investigation Officer and also think about the manner, in which, the investigation is carried out by the concerned Police Officer.
3. Now considering the matter on merits, the present petitioners - original accused nos.3 to 6 have prayed for the following reliefs:
8(A) be pleased to issue appropriate writ, order or direction calling for the records and proceedings of FIR being C.R. No.I-78/2017 registered with Devgadh Baria Police Station, Dahod and proceedings pursuant thereto and after perusing the same be pleased to quash the impugned FIR and all proceedings pursuant thereto, in the interest of justice;
(B) be pleased to stay the further proceedings in pursuance of FIR being C.R. No.I-78/2017 registered with Devgadh Baria Police Station, Dahod, pending the Page 2 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined admission, hearing and final disposal of this petition;
(C) be pleased to pass any other and further as may be deemed fit in the interest of justice.
4. The brief facts of the present case are as under:-
4.1 The petitioner no.1 and 4 are husband and wife, as they were in love, petitioner no.1 has ran away from her parental home and got married to the petitioner no.4 on 28.03.2017.
Since the petitioner no.1 has eloped with the petitioner no.4, on 03.04.2017, the petitioner no.1 and 4 have intimated about their marriage to the Police Inspector, Devgadh Baria Police Station.
4.2 The petitioner no. 2 is the father and the petitioner no.3 is the uncle of the petitioner no.4 respectively. It is stated that the accused no.1 is mother and the accused no.2 in the FIR is brother of the petitioner no.1 respectively. 4.3 It is stated that since the petitioner no.1 has eloped with the petitioner no.4 and got married, the same was not liking to the accused no.1 and 2 and being mother and the brother Page 3 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined of the petitioner no.1, they used to taunt the deceased daughter of the complainant who was got married to the distant relative of the petitioner and was originally belonging to the same village Saliya, where the accused no.1 and 2 are residing.
4.4 Ever since after the elopement of the petitioner no.1 with the petitioner no.4, the deceased daughter has returned to her parental home, since almost last two months and she was staying with her parents. That on 02.06.2017, the daughter of the complainant has committed suicide. 4.5 That on 03.06.2017, the complainant has lodged an FIR and thereby alleged that the accused no. 1 and 2 used to taunt her daughter for the elopement of the petitioner no.1 and used to threaten her to bring her back as the daughter of the accused no.1, i.e. petitioner no.1 had eloped with the distant relative of the deceased daughter of the complainant. It was further alleged in the FIR that on 02.06.2017 at around 5 p.m. the accused no.1 and 2 came to the house and had threatened the daughter of the complainant to bring petitioner no.1 back Page 4 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined and failing which they will kill her. And thereafter at around 5.30 p.m. the daughter of the complainant had committed suicide.
5. Heard Mr. Padmraj Jadeja, learned advocate for the petitioners and Mr. Dhawan Jayswal, learned advocate for the respondent no.1 - State of Gujarat.
6. Mr. Padmraj Jadeja, learned advocate for the petitioners submitted that though the notice of rule is served to the respondent no.2, yet the respondent no.2 has not chosen to appear nor file any affidavit to contest this application. Mr. Jadeja, learned advocate has submitted that on bare reading of the FIR, prima-facie ingredients of Section-498A of IPC cannot be attracted to the present petitioners. He has further submitted that considering the allegations, which are essentially made against one Kalaben Rameshbhai Patel and Nilesh Rameshbhai Patel regarding the some conversation dated 02.06.2017, for which, at the best, some ingredients of Section-306 can be attracted, but for the present petitioners, who are accused no.3 to 6 in the complaint, no ingredients are Page 5 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined satisfied of any section as mentioned in the complaint. Therefore, he has submitted that the present FIR is nothing, but to harass the present petitioners and if continuation of any proceedings pursuant to such FIR amounts to an abuse of process of law. Therefore, he prays that in view of judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of State of Haryana Vs. Bhajanlal reported in AIR 1992 SC 604 and other judgments of the Hon'ble Apex Court, this is fit case to exercise powers under Section-482 of Cr.P.C.
7. Per contra, Mr. Dhawan Jayswal, learned APP has submitted that though there is no specific allegation made against the present petitioners, but the fact remains that the incident has taken place as the accused no.6 has run away with the accused no.3. Thereafter, considering the subsequent events, prima-facie case is made out against all the accused persons and considering the community from which the accused persons as well as complainant are coming, prima- faice, it transpires that the ingredients of Section498A are also satisfied and Section-306 of IPC is also attracted in the facts of present case. He has further submitted that Page 6 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined considering the allegations made in the FIR, since prima-facie case is made out against all the accused persons, this Court should not exercise the powers under Section-482 of Cr.P.C. and the petitioners are required to face the proceedings of trial as powers under Section-482 of Cr.P.C. are required to be exercised very sparingly.
8. I have considered the rival submissions made at bar. I have considered the fact that the petitioners herein are as such cannot be considered as family members as required under Section-498A of IPC. Section-498A, 306 & 107 of IPC reads as under:-
498A. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.--Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation.--For the purpose of this section, "cruelty" means--
(a) any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or Page 7 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined
(b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.
306. Abetment of suicide.--If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
107. Abetment of a thing.--A person abets the doing of a thing, who--
(First) -- Instigates any person to do that thing; or (Secondly) --Engages with one or more other person or persons in any conspiracy for the doing of that thing, if an act or illegal omission takes place in pursuance of that conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing; or (Thirdly) -- Intentionally aids, by any act or illegal omission, the doing of that thing.
Explanation 1.--A person who, by wilful misrepresentation, or by wilful concealment of a material fact which he is bound to dis-close, voluntarily causes or procures, or attempts to cause or procure, a thing to be done, is said to instigate the doing of that thing.
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NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined Illustration A, a public officer, is authorized by a warrant from a Court of Justice to apprehend Z. B, knowing that fact and also that C is not Z, wilfully represents to A that C is Z, and thereby intentionally causes A to apprehend C. Here B abets by instigation the apprehension of C. Explanation 2.--Whoever, either prior to or at the time of the commission of an act, does anything in order to facilitate the commission of that act, and thereby facilitate the commission thereof, is said to aid the doing of that act.
9. Considering the tenure of the FIR, it transpires that the allegations, if any, are levelled against one Kalaben Rameshbhai Patel and Nilesh Rameshbhai Patel, which can be considered as cause for such unfortunate incident, but prima- faice, it transpires that the present petitioners have not played any direct role in commission of such offence as alleged in the FIR. Therefore, this Court is of the opinion that the ingredients of Section-498A nor 306 are satisfied against the present petitioners and therefore, continuation of proceedings of present FIR against the present petitioners are amounts to an abuse of process of law in view of the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of State of Haryana Vs. Bhajanlal reported in AIR 1992 SC 604, this is fit case to exercise Page 9 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/14696/2017 ORDER DATED: 03/08/2023 undefined powers under Section-482 of Cr.P.C.
10. In the result, this application is allowed. The FIR being C.R. No.I-78 of 2017 registered with Devgadh Baria Police Station, Dahod, is hereby ordered to be quashed qua the applicants herein. All consequential proceedings pursuant thereto shall stand terminated.
Rule is made absolute to the aforesaid extent. Direct service is permitted.
(SANDEEP N. BHATT,J) A. B. VAGHELA Page 10 of 10 Downloaded on : Sun Sep 17 00:04:16 IST 2023