THE HONOURABLE SRI WSTICE E v. VENUGOPAL CRIMINAL PETITION No

Sri. Shujath Ali Khan, S/o. Himayath Ali Khan, Aged 51 years, Occ. Business, R/o, H.No.1 1-3-'151, New Mallepally, Hyderabad. ...RESPONDENTS Petition urde,r f ie:ction 482 ol Cr 'P.C praying that in the c rr;umstances stated in the Mernorardum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, ther Hi0h Court may bepleasedtoqulsrtlre:proceedingsagainstthePetitioners/Ar;cusr-'t1No.2,3,5 to 9 in cc.No.263B 2A21 pending on the file of Xlll Addl chief lt/letropolitan Magistrate, HYde'atrac. l.A. NO: 1 OF 2023 Petition urde:r lierction 482 o'f Cr.P C praying that in ttle c rrlumstances stated in the Merncrar clum of Grounds of criminal Petition, thr: Hit:h court may be pleased to stav all further proceedings, including the aprpearzrnce of the Petitioners/Accusec Nc 2. 3, 5 to 9 in cc.No.2638t2021 pending :rr the file of Hon'ble Xlll Addl Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad; This Petitirtn ccnting on for hearing, upon perusing the Me'norandum of Grounds of crinrinal Fetition and upon hearing the arguments of sri Mohd Muzaffer Ullah Klran. r\<lvocate for the Petitioner, sri E.Ganesh, Asr;istant Public Prosecutor on br)h al1' of the Respondent No. '1 and Sri Rehzrn A b,lul Khader, Advocate for the Rersp:rrdent No. 2 The Court made thr-' f<'llowing ORDER: THE HONOURABLE SRI WSTICE E. V. VENUGOPAL CRIMINAL PETITION No.9 113 ()F 2023 ORDER: This Criminal Petition is f,rled by the petitioners/accused Nos,2, 3, 5 to 9 seeking to quash the proceedings against them in C'C'No'2638 of 2O2l pending on the file of XIII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, HYderabad- Heard Sri Mohd Muzaferuulah I(han, learned 2. counsel for petitioners, Sri E' Ganesh, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor appearing for respondent No.l-State and Sri Rehan Abdul Khader' learned counsel for respondent No'2' Perused the material available on record. The brief facts of the case are that the victim 3. married accused No.l on 23'04'2015 and at the time of marriage, the parents of the victim gave 40 tulas of gold ornaments and some cash to accused No'l as d.owry. When accused No.1 left to canada after 15 days 2 \ EW,J. C,1LP No.9113 2023 of ma.:riage, the other accused, who aro in-larirs; of the victim, ur;od to harass the victim mr:nteLly a]1d \ physic:all1' and also used to threaten her u.i:h dire .conse(luenc:es for walt of additional dowrg. Ilt:nce, a case vi/as :r:gistered vide Crime No.12 of llO),ri before the Htrrnartrnnagar Police, Hyderabad and 1ten,ling tJre said crine , the father of the victim lodgecl another compl:ritrt against the accused persons with same allegations vide Crime No.142 of 2016 bel,lrs 1hs Habeeltragar Police, Hyderabad. It is staterl ttrat after comple:tirn cf investigation, a charge sheet was filed uide C.C ltlo.2638 of 2O2L on the file of the learn,:d XIII AdditicnrrL C)hief Metropolitan Magistrate, I{yd,erabad, for thr: ollences punishable under Ser:tions 49g(A), 42O,3l\2, t(.t6, tog of the IpC and Sections 3 and 4 of the D.l). lr,:t. by clubbing the two crimes i.e., Crime No.12 crf 2016 and Crime No.142 of 2016

4. lx:arned counsel for the petition,:rs .firstlg submitt.erl th.at except omnibus allegations, th,,:r.e are no specific allegations against the petitir>ner-s;. He --------7 3 CRLP-No.9l I 3 EW,J -2023 secondlA submitted that though there is no corroborative evidence to prove the alleged offences' the petitioners are implicated in the case with fa-lse and fabricated allegations' He thirdlg submitted that the entire state of allegations is unclear including the dates and circumstances of the payments made to the accused. He la-stlg submitted that the petitioners have no role in the marriage life of the victim and accused No.1 and in this regard, he placed reliance on the judgments of the Apex Court in Neelu Chopra and another Vs.Bhqrtit, Geetha Mehrotra and dnother Vs. Stqte of (Ittar Pradesh qnd another2 and also Dara Lolkshmi Naragana Vs' State of Teldngana ornd ornothel3 and prayed the Court to allow the Criminal Petition. Per Contra,learned counsel for respondent No'2 b vehemently opposed the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioners stating that the trial ' (zoto) t scc (c.t) zao ' (zotz) to scc lat r 2024 o supreme (SC) I t62 4 EW,J' CRIP A'o.9l li 2023 has to be conducted in order to elicit the ':rrt facts of the c:rs,:. therefore, quashing the proceedtngs, against \ the pe:titloners, at this stage, does not arist:. Hence, he prayerl t.hr' Court to dismiss the Criminal Petitirtr 6 ()n the other hand, learned Assista-nt Public Prose<:utc,r' submitted that since the altegationsr .evelled againsrt t1-re petitioners are serious in natrrre and the trial is v'r:t to be commenced, the continurr._ion of proceedinps before the trial Court is necessary t) come to riglrt r:,tnclusion. Hence, he prayed the ()ourt to dismiss th,: Crimina-l Petition.

7. Ie 'riew of the riva_l submissions ma.de by both the partles, this Court has perused material rvidence availatrlt' on record. As per the averments cf the complzrint, the petitioners despite taking amounts from the vic:tim try promising to take uisa for tr-avt,l.ing to her hus.tzrrd place i.e., canada, they fail:d o fulfil their prorr ise and threatened her witlr dire consequ(:n(:e,s and snatched away her ornarnentt;. It is 5 EW,J CRLP No.9l13 2023 pertinent to note that except the above allegation, there are no specihc allegations against the petitioner Nos.4 to 7 and they are no way concerned with the matrimonia-l disputes between accused No.l and the victim.

8. For better appreciation of the facts of the case, it is relevant to note that while dealing with matters arising out of similar circumstances, the Apex Court in the judgments of Neelu Chopra (Supra 7), Geetha Mehrotra (Supra 2) and Dqra Lakshmi Naragana (Supra 3/, categoricatly held that so far as in the matrimonial disputes that misuse of legal provisions cannot be continued in the absence of specific allegation.

9. In the instant case, pima facie, it is apparent that except omnibus allegations, there are no specilic allegations against the petitioner Nos.3 to 7. Further, there is no incriminating evidence to prove the alleged offences. Hence, this Court, having respectful 6 Ery cRr-r, ,"k'.91t3 2023 agreenlent rrzith the decision of the Apex Court in the aforesaicl .i,rlgments and a]so considering the rrr:culiar facts anrl r:ircumstances, is of the considererl opinion that 1.h;tt c,ven if the tria-l is conducted, tro :trrrpose would he served as there are no other specific allegat..orrs; against the petitioner Nos.4 to 7. lO. At this juncture, learned counsr:l ltr the petitionersr tLas restricted his prayer on15. to tht: extent of disperLsi.rg with the presence of the pctitione r Nos.1 and 2rrefcr-e the tria-l Court as they are senior ,:- tizens sufferirrg rrz th old age ailments.

11. A:crrrdingly, the Criminal Petition is partly allowec.. C'rresequently, the proceedings agairrs;t the petitiorrer: I\los.4 to 7 in C.C.No.2638 of 2O2 1 liending of XIII Additional Chief M,:trc,politan on the: fi 1: Magistral.e, Hyderabad, for the offences llunis,hable under ilectrons 498(4), 42O, 382, 406, 709 o1'rhe IPC and Sectionr; 3 and 4 of the D.P. Act., efe L ereby quashe,l. lowever, the proceedings againrit the petitioner Nos.1 to 3 in C.C.No.2638 of 202 1 pending 7 EW,J CRLP No.9l l3 2023 on the file of XIII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad, for the offences punishable under Sections 498(A), 42O, 382, 406, lO9 of the IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the D.P. Act., sha1l be continued. Further, the trial Court is directed to dispose of the C.C. in respect of petitioner Nos.1 to 3 after hearing both the parties. Further, the appearance of the petitioner Nos.l and 2 before the trial Court is dispensed with unless their presence is specihcally required during the course of trial, subject to the condition of petitioner Nos.l and 2 being represented by their counsel on every date of hearing. Pending miscellaneous applications, lf any, sha1l stand closed. //TRUE COPY// L,LA S MI B EI S TANT REGISTRAR SECTION OFFICER To,

1. 2. J. 4. il=ufdh:*{t,I;ii''ili,****;*{*.,,.*'"*** Two CCs to Public Prosecu [':':"it,ij|".[il:"tff J",I.'ii']Til]tJi3'Jt't3""' . Two CD CoPies 5 b 7 VSM/PIP KT 1 r HIGH COUFIT DATED: 051A2n025 .-'-: - -- =:\ ' '-o ,-r t' i / 'ult T6 ? a .\ ,i U -a 2,, ORDER CRLP.No.91'13 af 2023 PARTLY AL.LOWING THE CRIMINAL PETITION 10 @f't w