498A; Relatives of the husband should not be made to suffer the ignominy of a criminal trial in the absence of specific and credible allegations; Madhya Pradesh HC [Read Judgment]

“the averments against the accused other than her husband and father-in-law were omnibus in nature and no specific role in this regard has been ascribed to any of them nor time and date of the assault has been given”.Quashing a crime registered under section 498-A read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, Justice C.V. Sirpurkar of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur bench has held in a recent judgment that if there are no specific and credible allegations against the relatives of the husband with necessary particulars, they should not be made to suffer the ignominy of a criminal trial.Referring to a catena of decisions on the point, the Madhya Pradesh High Court observed that the Supreme Court has expressed its concern with regard to false implication of husband and his relatives in the cases under section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code by disgruntled wives and that the tendency of falsely implicating even those relatives of husband, who lived separately and in different cities is also growing.The above ruling came when the Court was considering a petition filed under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C., by the accused in Crime No.32/2015 registered by P.S. City Kotwali, Chhindwara, under section 498-A read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.The de-facto complainant Harshna Paigwar filed a written report with the police to the effect that she was married to the 1st accused/1st applicant Shrikant Paigwar/Tamrakar by Hindu Rites in a Group Marriage Ceremony under the Chief Minister's Scheme at Chhindwara, on 06-06-2014. Applicants/accused Sudama Prasad Tamrakar was the father of the 1st accused/1st applicant, Amarlal Tamrakar was his father's brother-in- law, Uma Tamrakar was his father's sister, Anoop Tamrakar his brother-in-law, Eshwari Tamrakar his sister, Sachin Chandravanshi his brother-in-law and Jaishri Chandravanshi the sister of applicant No.1 Shrikant Tamrakar. Applicant No.9 Krishna Tamrakar was not related to applicant No.1 Shrikant Tamrakar.When the complainant went to her matrimonial home at Chhindwara, from her maternal home at Chichli, Gadarwara, her two sisters-in-law Eshwari and Jaishri and their husbands Anoop and Sachin as also her father-in- law's sister Uma and her husband Amarlal Tamrakar as well as Krishna Tamrakar started saying that her mother had given nothing in dowry. She ought to have given at least Rs.5,00,000/-. Krishna Tamrakar said that at Chhindwara people evem spent 10,00,000/- in marriages. The aforesaid relatives of her husband started taunting and mentally harassing her. Sudama, her father-in-law also mentally harassed her for dowry. Her husband Shrikant called his friends, to consume liquor in her matrimonial home. Shrikant told the complainant to do everything she does with him, with his friends as well. Her husband and father-in-law pressurized her to ask her mother on telephone to give a shop in dowry. Her husband and her father-in-law also forcibly administered intoxicating tablets and on one occasion, an injection to her. Once her husband and father-in-law tried to pour kerosene on her; whereon she ran away to her neighbours' place and called her mother on telephone. Thereafter her mother came and took her to her maternal home. Her husband and father- in-law say that they would take her to her maternal home only after her mother would make arrangement for more dowry. The FIR was lodged on 14-01-2015. After investigation, charge-sheet was filed in the Court on 26-09-2015.The accused sought quashing of the FIR and the proceedings arising therefrom on the following grounds: that the complainant lived at her matrimonial home with the 1st applicant Shrikant only after a brief period of 10-12 days. Thereafter, her mother took her to her matrimonial home leveling false allegations against applicant Shrikant and other family members. Since, the complainant refused to live with applicant No.1 Shrikant, he served a notice dated 25-08-2014 upon her through his advocate by registered post but the complainant did not pay any heed to the aforesaid notice. Consequently applicant No.1 Shrikant Tamrakar filed an application under section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act in the Court of Principal Judge, Family Court, Chhindwara on 18-11-2014, for restitution of conjugal rights which has been registered as Hindu Marriage Petition No.418/2014. As a counter blast to the said application, the complainant filed present first information report on 15-01-2015, wherein false allegations have been leveled not only against applicant Shrikant and father Sudama Prasad but also against Krishna Tamrakar, who is not related to applicant Shrikant as also other relatives, who lived in other towns separate from applicant Shrikant on omnibus allegations.There was no appearance for the complainant despite due service of notice on her.The Court, on a perusal of the case diary and after considering...

498A; Relatives of the husband should not be made to suffer the ignominy of a criminal trial in the absence of specific and credible allegations; Madhya Pradesh HC [Read Judgment]

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