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4. The Investigating Officer, investigated the FIR lodged by the respondent no. 2 and submitted charge sheet in the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Hyderabad, West and South Court, R.R.District at Kothapet, Sarunagar for commission of offences punishable under Sections 494, 495, 417, 420 and 498A IPC. On receipt of the charge sheet the learned Magistrate took cognizance of the offences and summoned the appellant. The record shows that earlier Criminal Petition No. 812 of 2001 was filed by the appellant before the High Court to quash the proceedings initiated pursuant to C.C. No. 820 of 1996 pending on the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate. However, the said petition was Reportable withdrawn by the appellant and therefore the petition was dismissed by the High Court vide order dated 09.04.2005 reserving liberty to the appellant to file a fresh petition in case of necessity. After few days thereof, the appellant filed Criminal Petition No. 2426 of 2005 in the High Court for quashing the proceedings in the Criminal Case pending before the learned Magistrate. The record does not indicate as to why Criminal Petition No. 812 of 2001 filed by the appellant in which similar reliefs as claimed in Criminal Petition No. 2426 of 2005, were claimed, was withdrawn and which were the new/additional circumstances/grounds which prompted the appellant to file Criminal Petition No. 2426 of 2005. The said petition was filed mainly on the ground that the proceedings against the appellant were registered for commission of above mentioned offences on the basis of charge sheet submitted by the Sub-Inspector of Police, Women Police Station, Amberpet, R.R. District and not on the basis of complaint made by the aggrieved person within the meaning of Section 198 of the Code. According to the appellant the person aggrieved by alleged commission of Reportable offences under Sections 494 and 495 is his wife and cognizance of those offences could have been taken only on the basis of the complaint filed by his wife in the Court or by someone on her behalf as contemplated by Section 198A (1)(c) of the Code, and therefore, the learned Magistrate could not have taken cognizance of those offences on the basis of submission of charge sheet by Sub-Inspector of Police on the basis of the investigation into the FIR lodged by the respondent No. 2 who is not the aggrieved person within the meaning of Section 198 of the Code. It was pleaded that there was no averment that pursuant to deception or fraudulent or dishonest inducement made by the appellant, there was any delivery or destruction of property belonging to the original complainant and therefore Section 420 IPC was not attracted. It was the case of the appellant that the provision of Section 498A was also not attracted because the respondent no. 2 was not the wife of the appellant. It was also the case of the appellant that Section 417 IPC merged into offence under Section 495 IPC which is a graver offence than Section 417 and as there were no allegations Reportable constituting offence under Section 417 IPC, the proceedings initiated for alleged commission of the offences should be quashed.

7. The learned Counsel for the appellant argued that the learned Magistrate could not have taken cognizance of offences under Sections 494 and 495 IPC on the basis of the police report submitted by the Investigating Officer because though the State legislation amended the First Schedule to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 by making the offences under Section 494 ad 495 IPC cognizable, the legislation made by the Parliament in respect of Section 198 of the Code of Criminal Procedure remained the same and in the event of Reportable any repugnancy between the two legislations, the legislation made by the Parliament would prevail. It was emphasized that Section 198 A inserted by Section 5 of the Act 46 of 1983 with effect from 25.12.83 provides that no Court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code except upon a police report of facts which constitute such offences or upon a complaint made by the person aggrieved by the offence or by her father, mother, brother, sister or by her father's, her mother's, brother or sister or with the leave of the Court by any other person related to her by blood, marriage or adoption, but no provision is made to enable a court to take cognizance of offences punishable under Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code upon police report and therefore the proceedings pending before the learned Magistrate in respect of those offences should have been quashed. Referring to Section 198(1)(c) which inter alia provides that no Court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under Chapter XX of the Indian Penal Code except upon a complaint made by a person aggrieved, where the person Reportable aggrieved by an offence punishable under Section 494 or Section 495 of the Indian Penal Code, is the wife etc., it was pleaded that in the instant case no complaint was made to the Court but was made to the police and on the basis of charge sheet, the Magistrate had taken cognizance of the offences which is contrary to Section 198 of the Code and is illegal. What was asserted was that the High Court failed to notice that under Section 198(1)(c) of the Criminal Procedure Code only a legally wedded wife or someone on her behalf as mentioned in the said Section can make a complaint to Magistrate for the offences under Section 494 and 495 IPC and as admittedly the complaint was made by the respondent no. 2 who is claiming to be second wife of the appellant herein and that too to the police and not in the Court, the proceedings initiated for alleged commission of those offences should have been quashed. In support of above stated contentions, the learned Counsel for the petitioner placed reliance on the decision in Mavuri Rani Veera Bhadranna (Supra).

Reportable To hold that a woman with whom second marriage is performed is not entitled to maintain a complaint under Section 494 IPC though she suffers legal injuries would be height of perversity.

11. Section 495 IPC provides that if a person committing the offence defined in Section 494 IPC conceals from the person with whom subsequent marriage is contracted, the fact of the former marriage, the said person is liable to punished as provided therein. The offence mentioned in Section 495 IPC is an aggravated form of bigamy provided in Section 494 IPC. The circumstance of aggravation is the concealment of the fact of the former marriage to the person with whom the second marriage is contracted. Since the offence under Section 495 IPC is in essence bigamy, it follows that all the elements necessary to constitute that offence must be present here also. A married man who by passing himself off as unmarried induces an innocent woman to become, as she thinks his wife, but in reality his mistress, commits one of the grossest forms of frauds known to law Reportable and therefore severe punishment is provided in Section 495 IPC. Section 495 begins with the words "whoever commits the offence defined in the last preceding Section........" The reference to Section 494 IPC in Section 495 IPC makes it clear that Section 495 IPC is extension of Section 494 IPC and part and parcel of it. The concealment spoken of in Section 495 IPC would be from the woman with whom the subsequent marriage is performed. Therefore, the wife with whom the subsequent marriage is contracted after concealment of former marriage, would also be entitled to lodge complaint for commission of offence punishable under Section 495 IPC. Where second wife alleges that the accused husband had married her according to Hindu rites despite the fact that he was already married to another lady and the factum of the first marriage was concealed from her, the second wife would be an aggrieved person within the meaning of Section 198 Cr. P.C. If the woman with whom the second marriage is performed by concealment of former marriage is entitled to file a complaint for commission of offence under Section 495 IPC, there is no reason why she Reportable would not be entitled to file complaint under Section 494 IPC more particularly when Section 495 IPC is extension and part and parcel of Section 494 IPC.

This is not a case in which the FIR is exclusively filed for commission of offences under Sections 494 and 495 IPC.

The case of the respondent no. 2 is that the appellant has committed offences punishable under Sections 417, 420, 494, 495 and 498A of the IPC. A question may arise as to Reportable what should be the procedure to be followed by a complainant when a case involves not only non- cognizable offence but one or more cognizable offences as well. It is somewhat anomalous that the aggrieved person by the alleged commission of offences punishable under Sections 494 and 495 IPC should file complaint before a Court and that the same aggrieved person should approach the police officer for alleged commission of offences under Sections 417, 420 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code. Where the case involves one cognizable offence also alongwith non-cognizable offences it should not be treated as a non- cognizable case for the purpose of sub-section 2 of Section 155 and that is the intention of legislation which is manifested in Section 155(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Therefore, the argument that the learned Magistrate could not have taken cognizance of the offences punishable under Sections 494 and 495 IPC on the basis of submission of charge sheet, cannot be accepted and is hereby rejected.