Criminal Petition No. 8500 of 2012 · Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Criminal Petition is filed by the petitioners/A-2 and A-3 under Section 482 Cr.P.C. seeking to quash the proceedings in F.I.R.No.143 of 2012 of Chebrolu Police Station, Guntur District.

Respondent No.2/de facto complainant is the wife of A-1. A-2 is the mother of A-1 and A-3 is his maternal grandmother. The allegation in the complaint would go to show that at the time of the marriage, the parents of respondent No.2 gave Rs.30,000/- towards dowry, one gold ring to A-1 besides household articles; that later, A-1 developed aversion towards respondent No.2 and harassed her physically and mentally; that A-2 used to state that she would perform another marriage to A-1, as the amount brought by the de facto complainant was meager; that A-3 was in the habit of harassing her by lame excuses and scold her in filthy language; that A-2 and A-3 went to her parents’ house and demanded an amount of Rs.10,000/- towards additional dowry or else, they would not allow respondent No.2 to stay in the house.

Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that the petitioners are no way concerned with the family affairs of A-1 and the de facto complainant; that A-3 is aged about 80 years and bed ridden and therefore, the question of demanding additional dowry does not arise and hence, continuation of proceedings is nothing but abuse of process of Court.

Inherent powers of this Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. can be invoked or exercised when there is abuse of process of Court or to secure the ends of justice or to carry out orders passed under the Code. If the allegations in the complaint do not disclose a prima facie cognizable offence, then only the question of quashing the complaint arises. At the initial stage of F.I.R., if the uncontroverted allegations made out a prima facie cognizable offence, then, it is the statutory duty of the police to conduct investigation. That investigation cannot be curtailed or interdicted at the threshold.

Explanation to Section 498A I.P.C. defines "cruelty" as under: (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 (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. From the above provision, any unlawful demand made by the husband or relative of the husband comes within the meaning of cruelty. A specific allegation is made against the petitioners that they demanded the parents of the de facto complainant for additional dowry of Rs.10,000/- to allow the de facto complainant to lead marital life. Hence, there are no grounds to quash the F.I.R.