Karnataka High Court Quashes Cheating Case Against Matrimonial Website Employees

The Karnataka High Court has quashed a case registered against two employees of a matrimonial website by a woman subscriber, who was cheated by a man she had come into contact through the portal.The woman in her complaint in 2017 said that she had created her profile on the "Kannada Matrimony" and subsequently she came into contact with a person by name of Amit Deepak through the portal. The accused on one pretext or the other demanded money from the complaint which she transferred to him. After speaking with a close friend, she realised that she was cheated by Deepak for a sum of Rs.1,70,000.Accordingly, she filed an FIR on May 30, 2017, for offences punishable under Section 420 of IPC and Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, 2008, against three accused. Vijaya Kumar and Chandrashekar, who work for the portal "Kannada Matrimony", were also made accused in the case. They approached the high court in 2017 for quashing of the case against them. The petitioners argued that the allegation of cheating is against Deepak and in the absence of specific allegation so as to constitute the commission of offence punishable under Section 420 of IPC, the registration of FIR against them is without any substance. A single judge bench of Justice Hemant Chandangouda on going through the records and submissions noted that the only allegation against the petitioners is that they collected a sum of Rs.3,700 towards subscription charges, by promising that her marriage would be solemnised with Deepak. “Admittedly, the petitioners are employees of "Kannada Matrimony" portal and the said amount Rs.3,700 was collected towards subscription charges and upon subscription, the 2nd respondent [complainant] came into contact with accused No.1, who maintained his profile in "Kannada Matrimony". Except the said allegation, there is no specific allegation against petitioners that they had dishonest intention to cheat the complainant from inception,” the court said. The court said to constitute the offence punishable under Section 420 of IPC, there must be a specific allegation that the accused had induced the informant to subscribe to the portal with an intention to cheat. “In the absence of essential ingredients so as to constitute the commission of offence punishable under Section 420 of IPC, the continuation of investigation against the petitioners - accused Nos.2 and 3 will be an abuse of process of law, since the possibilities of police filing charge sheet against the petitioners - accused Nos.2 and 3 is remote and bleak," it said, while quashing the case against the petitioners. Case Title: Vijay Kumar & ANR And State of Karnataka Case no: WRIT PETITION NO.29340/2017 Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Kar) 32 Date of Order: 03-01-2023 Appearance: Advocate Shyam Sundar H V for petitioners HCGP Vinayaka V.S, FOR R-1. Advocate N Byregowda for R2. Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

Karnataka High Court Quashes Cheating Case Against Matrimonial Website Employees

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