High Court

Legal Reasoning

cran2556.24-1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABADCRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 2556 OF 20241.Somnath s/o Ashok BhosaleAge 37 years, Occ. Service(husband) (withdrawn) 2.Meera w/o Ashok BhosaleAge 60 years, Occ. Household(mother in law)3.Ashok s/o Natthu BhosaleAge 68 years,Occ. Pensioner(father in law) All R/o. Pipeline Road, Vasant Tekadi, Savedi, Aurangabad ...Applicants Versus 1.The State of Maharashtra Through Police InspectorBhagyanagar, Police Station,Nanded, Tq. & Dist. Nanded 2.Prajakta w/o Somnath Bhosale Age 28 years, Occ. HouseholdR/o. A/p. Saainagar, BehindShubhmangal Karyalaya, Purna Road, Nanded, District Nanded ...Respondents …..Mr. D.R. Kale, Advocate for the applicantsMs. Rashmi P. Gour, A.P.P. for the respondent No.1Mr. S.C. Bhosale, Advocate for respondent No.2. ….. CORAM:SMT. VIBHA KANKANWADI AND SANJAY A. DESHMUKH, JJ.DATED:16th JULY, 2025 cran2556.24-2- O R D E R (PER SANJAY A. DESHMUKH, J.) :- 1.Heard learned advocates for the respective parties. 2.This is an application filed under Section 482 of the Code ofCriminal Procedure, 1973 (for short “the Cr.P.C.”) for quashing theF.I.R. No. 142 of 2024 registered with Bhagyanagar police StationNanded, district Nanded for the offences punishable under Sections498-A, 323 and 504 r.w. 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short“the I.P.C.”) and the consequential charge sheet and the criminalcase bearing R.C.C. No. 900 of 2024 pending before JudicialMagistrate First Class at Nanded.3.After hearing for some time, when this court showeddisinclination to grant relief to applicant No.1, learned advocate forthe applicants, on instructions, seeks leave to withdraw theapplication of applicant No.1. Leave granted. The application to theextent of applicant No.1 stands dismissed as withdrawn. Hence, thisapplication is being considered to the extent of applicant Nos. 2 and3. 4.The informant averred in the report that applicant Nos. 2and 3 are her parents-in-law. cran2556.24-3- 5.The informant further averred in the report that she marriedwith the son of applicant nos. 2 and 3 as per Hindu Thakar rituals on12.05.2023. After marriage, she went to reside at her matrimonialhouse at Ahmednagar with her husband and in-laws. Initially, shewas treated well for eight days by the applicants and her husband.Thereafter, they started to harass her by saying that she is lunatic.Her parents are also lunatic. She is not able to clean the houseproperly and she is not able to do the household chores properly.She is not worthy to maintain the house properly. They were abusingher frequently. She used to tell about the said cruelty to her parents,brother and sister. 6.The informant further averred that on 25.5.2023 when herparents came to visit her, she told about the incidents of cruelty tothem. They tried to convince the applicants, however, they did notpay any heed. They were not in a position to listen to her grievance.Therefore, her parents took her with them to Nanded. She madeapplication to Women Grievance Redressal Cell, Nanded. Butthereafter also the applicants and her husband did not allow her forcohabitation. Therefore, she lodged the report. 7.Learned advocate for the applicants submitted that theapplicants are in no way concerned with the allegations made by the cran2556.24-4- informant. The present applicants are old aged persons. There arevague and baseless allegations made against the applicants,without quoting their specific role about cruelty. The date and time ofallegation of abuses, beating is not mentioned and also no specificrole has been attributed to the present applicants. All allegations arevague and general in nature. There is a delay in lodging the report.From the charge sheet, it appears that all the witnesses whosestatements are recorded are from the parental side of the informant.The said statements of the witnesses cannot prove that theharassment and cruelty has been caused to the informant. There arevarious medical documents and prescriptions which show thatinformant is suffering from mental disorder and taking regulartreatment from psychiatric Hospital, therefore, the allegations madeagainst the applicants are baseless. These applicants are closerelatives of the husband of the informant and they have been falselyimplicated in the crime without any basis. Therefore, he prayed toquash the proceedings. 8.Learned A.P.P. for respondent No.1 State and learnedadvocate for respondent No.2 strongly opposed the application bysubmitting that the applicants and the husband of the informant havetreated the informant with cruelty. At the instance of the presentapplicants, there was consistent cruelty caused to the informant at cran2556.24-5- the hands of her husband. Though the applicants are old agedpersons, they used to instigate the husband of the informant toharass the informant. The specific role by mentioning their names isattributed to the applicants. The applicants cannot be exoneratedfrom the criminal liability under Sections 498-A, 323 and 504 r.w. 34of the I.P.C. It is lastly prayed to reject the application. 9.It would be relevant to refer to the judgment of the Hon’bleSupreme court in the case of Kim Wansoo Vs. State of UttarPradesh & Ors., reported in 2025 SCC Online SC 17 , in which theHon’ble Supreme Court, in paras 9 and 11 of the judgment, has heldas under :“9.In State of A.P. v. Golconda Linga Swamy, this Courtagain held that where an FIR did not disclose the commissionof an offence without anything being added or subtracted fromthe recitals thereof, the said FIR could be quashed.11.In the contextual situation, it is also relevant to refer tothe decision of this Court in Mohammad Wajid and Anotherv. State of U.P. and Anr., whereunder this Court, in so far asit is relevant, held thus :-“34…….. it will not be just enough for the Court tolook into the averments made in the FIR/complaintalone for the purpose of ascertaining whether thenecessary ingredients to constitute the allegedoffence are disclosed or not. In frivolous or vexatiousproceedings, the Court owes a duty to look into many cran2556.24-6- other attending circumstances emerging from recordof the case over and above the averments and, ifneed be, with due care and circumspection try toread in between the lines. The Court while exercisingits jurisdiction under Section 482 of the CrPC orArticle 226 of the Constitution need not restrict itselfonly to the stage of a case but is empowered to takeinto account the overall circumstances leading to theinitiation/registration of the case as well as materialscollected in the course of investigation…..”10.We have perused the charge sheet, particularly the report andthe statements of witnesses. Though it is alleged that the parents inlaw of the informant called her lunatic, the informant has not statedany specific incident as to when they called her lunatic. Theallegations set-forth in the report and the statements of witnessesabout cruelty are of vague and general nature. If all these aspectsare considered together, the offences punishable under Sections498-A, 323 and 504 r/w 34 of the I.P.C. are not established againstthe applicants. There is no medical evidence of injuries caused tothe informant due to the alleged beating so as to establish essentialingredients of Section 323 of the I.P.C. Therefore, on such vagueand general allegations, compelling the applicants to face the trial,would be an abuse of the process of the court. The case is made outfor exercise of our powers under section 482 of the Cr.P.C. We aretherefore, inclined to allow the application, in the interest of justice to cran2556.24-7- prevent the abuse of the process of the Court. Hence, the followingorder:-O R D E R I.The application stands partly allowed. II.The F.I.R. No. 142 of 2024 registered with Bhagyanagar policeStation Nanded, district Nanded for the offences punishableunder Sections 498-A, 323 and 504 r.w. 34 of the I.P.C. andthe consequential charge sheet and the criminal case bearingR.C.C. No. 900 of 2024 pending before the Judicial MagistrateFirst Class at Nanded are quashed and set aside to the extentof applicant Nos. 2 and 3. (SANJAY A. DESHMUKH, J.) (SMT. VIBHA KANKANWADI, J.)rlj/