High Court · 2025

Petition under Section 482 of CI.P.C praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to quash the proceedings bearing DVC No. 18 ot 2O22 on the file of Addl. Junior Civil Judge-Cum-Judicial First Class Magistrate, Suryapet District, At Suryapet under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 against the Petitioner/ Respondent No. 5, l.A. NO: 2OF 2023 Petition under Section 482 of Cr.P .C praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition,the High Court may be pleased to stay all further proceedings bearing DVC No- 18 of 2022 on the file of Addl. Junior Civil Judge-Cum-Judicial First Class Magistrate, Suryapet District, At Suryapet under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violenc€ Act, 2005 against the Petitioner/ Respondent No. 5 including the personal appearance of the Petitioner/ Respondent No. 5, pending disposal of the criminal petition This Petition coming on for hearing,upon perus r g the Memorandum of Grounds of criminal Petition and upon hearing the argur ents of sri BAGLEKAR AKASH KUMAR ,Advocate for the Petitioner and the, Mrs ,S. Madhavi Asst Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent Nol and none appeared Respondent No2. The Court made the following: ORDER THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE JUWADISRIDEVI CRIMINAL PETITION No.'11818 ot 2023 ORDER: This Criminal Petition is filed by the petitioner- respondent No.5 seeking to quash the proceedings against her in DV.C No.18 of 2022 on the file of Additional Junior Civil Judge-cum-Judicial First Class Magistrate, at Suryapet.

02. Heard Mr. Baglekar Akash Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner-respondent No.5 and Smt S.tt/ladhavi, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor for the State. There is no representation on behalf of respondent No.2 Perused the record

03. The gist of the case, in brief, is that the marriage of respondent No.2 with the brother of the petitioner was performed in the year 2020. After marriage, respondent No,2 joined the conjugal society of her husband at Suryapet and for three months of their marriage, they looked her after well Thereafter, her in laws made her to do all the household works wrthout the help of any one. Later her husband and his family members started harassing her for want of additional 2 dowry from her parents and she informed th: same to her mother. Her mother used to come and gi.r I amounts as demanded by them and requested the petil oners to look after her welfare with love and care After t- at herself and her husband lived at Hyderabad in the rouse of the petitioner-respondent No,5 and at that time als I they insisted her mother to arrange the household articles t. them. 04 Learned counsel for the petitioner ;ubmrtted that the petitioner herein is sister in law of responc ent No.2. The allegatlon against her is that she stays in Ame to harass respondent No 2 by making rica and used phone calls demanding that she also wants dowry as ada6ri rduchu. When the mother of the respondent No.2 herein e rranged Rs.1 lakh, the petitioner herein refused to take thr amount and demanded Rs.10 lakhs. lt is further alleged I rat when the respondent No.2 gave birth to a female child, all the family members harassed her and the present petitior er demanded additional dowry of Rs.4 lakhs, failing whicl she will be abandoned. 3

05. To substantiate his case learned counsel for the petitioner relied upon a decision held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Giduthuri Kesari Kumar and others vs. State of Telanganal, held in para 14 as under- "14) To sum up the findings: i) Since the remedies under D.V.Act are civil remedies, the Magistrate in view of his powers under Secfion 2S(2) of D V Act sha// issue notice to the pafties for their first appearance and shall not insist for the attendance of the pafties for every hearing and in case of non-appearance of the parties despite receiving notices. can conduct enquiry and pass exparte order with the material available. lt is only in the exceptional cases where the Magistrate feels that the circumstance require that he can insist the presence of the parties even by adopting coercive measures. ii) ln view of the remedies which are in civil nature and enquiry is not a trial of criminal case, the quash petitions under Sec.482 Cr.P.C. on the plea that the petitioners are unnecessarily arrayed as parties are not maintainable lt is only in exceptional cases like without there existing any domestic relationship as laid under Section 2(f) ctf the D.V. Act between the parties, the petitioner filed D.V. case against them or a competent Court has already acquitted them of the allegations which are identical to the ones leveled in the Domestic Violence Case, the respondents can seek for quashment of the proceedings stnce continuation of the proceedings in such lnsfances certainly amounts to abuse of process of Court. 2015 SCC Online Hyd 18 4

06. He further relieC upon decisior- held by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Shaurabh Kumar Trig athi vs. Vidhi Rawal 2, wherein the Hon'ble Court held in c ara 3g and 3g as under-

38. Befcre we part with this ,ludgmti mention here that one of us (Abhay S.l party to a Judgment dated 2Td October, Bombay High Court in Writ petition 2473 which the view taken is that remedy under of the CrPC is not availabte for qtt proceedings under Section 12(1) of the D\ This view was fcund to be incorrect by a ,,t the same High Court. As judges, v,;e are d ., correct our mistakes in propedy proceedings Even for Judges, the iearr,i always continues. it, we must ka,J) is a )O1A nf tho of 2016 in )ection 482 shing the Act, 2005. l! Bench of y-bound to constituted rg process

39. To conclude, the view taken in tt,t impugned order of the High Ccurt that a petition ur,< er Section 482 of the CrPC for challenging the ,: -oceedings emanating from Section 12(1) of the DV ,a :t, 2005 is not maintainable is not the correct view. Vtt > hold that High Courls can exercise power under Se: ion 482 of CrPC (Section 528 of fhe BNSS/ for qLt tshing the proceedings emanating irom the applic,t ion under Section 12(1) of the DV Act, 2005, pending before the Court of the learned Magistrate. However, c cnsidering the object of the DV Act, 2005, the High C<t, ,rts should caution and circumspection wt.< n dealing exerctse with an application under Section 12(l) Normalty, when dealing with an application under Sec,ion 12(1) 'z 2025 scc ontine sC 1158 5 Normally, inteierence under Section 482 is warranted onty in the case of gross iilegality or iniustice.

07. Learned Assistant Public Prosecutor for the State contended that there are specific allegations against the petitioner and the truth or otherwise of the allegations levelled agatnst her can only be known after conducting full- fledged trial before the trial Court, and hence, she prayed to dismiss the petition.

08. ln this regard, it is pertinent here to extract the definitions of aggrieved person, domestic relationship and shared household which are as follows:- Secfron 2 (a) "aggrieved person" means any woman who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent; Secflon 2(f) "domestic relationship" means a relationship between two persons who live or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household, when they are related by consanguinity, marriage or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living together as a joint family, 6 Section 2(s) ,shared household,, household where the person aggrieved ltv sfage has lived in a domestic relationshiy-t or along with the respondent and incl,t household whether owned or tenanted eitl the aggrieved person and the respondent tenanted by either of them in respect of the aggrieved person or the respondent c,t or singly have any right, titte, interest or includes such a househotd which may be ioint family or which the respondent is irrespective of whether the respondt. aggrieved person has any right, tiile or tnt shared household, means a or at any =s zither singly /es such a er lointly by tr owned or vhich either both jointty equity and tong to the t ntember, tt or the \rpcf in th6

09. As seen from the record, no t r re, date and particulars with regard to the alleged harass.r ent made by the petitioner/respondent No.5 are given and o rly vague and omnibus allegations are made against the peti:i :ner. Further, as per the provisions of Dornestic Violence \ct, which is quasi eivil in nature, aggrieved person who r in domestic relationship in a shared household at some or l e other point wtth the respondent or petitioner whomsoeve r shall only come under the purview of the said Act for th : purpose of domestic violence. ln the instant case, th I petitioner_ respondent No.5, who is the sister in law of the respondent No.2 resides in America and it is nowhere established that the petitioner-respondent No.5 and respondent No.2 have ever resided in a domestic relationship and lived together in a shared house either singly or along with her husband at any point of time. Therefore, the ingredients of the offences under Domestic Violence Act are not made out. ln the said circumstances, and in view of the judgments reliecl upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner, the proceedings against the petitioner-respondent No.5 are liable to be quashed. 't0 Accordingly, the Criminal petition is allowed and the proceedings against the petitioner/respondent No.5 in D VC,No.1B on the file of Additional Junior Civil Judge_cum_ Judicial First Class Magistrate, at Suryapet, are hereby quashed. As a sequel, pending miscellaneous applicatrons, if any, shall stand closed. SD/. L.VIJAYA LAXMI ASISSTANT REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER

1. The Addl. Junior Civil Judge4um-Judicial First Class Magistrate, Suryapet District, At Suryapet .

2. One CC to SRl. BAGLEKARAKASH KUMAR Advocate [OPUC] 3. Two CC to PUBLIC PROSECUTOR [OUT] 4. Two CD Copies To, W Act p9L HIGH COURT DATED:0210712025 {HE S Te ()c_. ; J ,iit 2026 -2. -tr -d ORDER CRLP.No.11B1'8 of 2O23 CRLP IS ALLOWED /k \\ I I i i I I I I I