Apex Court trashed the mindless orders passed by AP High Court and quashed the settled criminal proceedings.

From Paras 11-15,

11. Learned Counsel for the Appellants vehemently submits that a bare perusal of the complaint filed by Respondent No.2 and the charge-sheet plainly discloses the absence of any necessary ingredients of the charged offences. It is submitted that the allegations are wholly general and omnibus in nature, made only with the intention to harass the Appellants, amounting to an abuseof the process of the law.
12. To buttress his contention, Learned Counsel for the Appellants has drawn the attention of this Court to the fact that Respondent No. 2 filed a petition seeking divorce and onlythereafter, the memo seeking reopening of the criminal proceedings against the Appellants was filed before the Trial Court.
13. This Court has heard the Learned Counsel for the parties and perused the record.
14. In the considered opinion of this Court, there is significant merit in the submissions of the Learned Counsel for the Appellants. A bare perusal of the complaint, statement ofwitnesses’ and the charge-sheet shows that the allegations against the Appellants are wholly general and omnibus in nature; even ifthey are taken in their entirety, they do not prima facie make out a case against the Appellants. The material on record neither discloses any particulars of the offences alleged nor discloses thespecific role/allegations assigned to any of the Appellants in the commission of the offences.
15. The phenomenon of false implication by way of generalomnibus allegations in the course of matrimonial disputes is not unknown to this Court. In Kahkashan Kausar alias Sonam v.State of Bihar2, this Court dealt with a similar case wherein theallegations made by the complainant-wife against her in-laws u/s.498A and others were vague and general, lacking any specific role and particulars. The court proceeded to quash the FIR against the accused persons and noted that such a situation, if leftunchecked, would result in the abuse of the process of law.

From Paras 17-18,

17. Considering the dicta in Mahmood Ali (supra), we find that the High Court in this case has failed to exercise due care and has mechanically permitted the criminal proceedings to continue despite specifically finding that the allegations are general and omnibus in nature. The Appellants herein approached the High Court on inter alia grounds that the proceedings were re-initiated on vexatious grounds and even highlighted the commencement of divorce proceedings by Respondent No. 2. In these peculiar circumstances, the High Court had a duty to consider the allegations with great care and circumspection so as to protect against the danger of unjust prosecution.
18. As stated above, given the facts and circumstances of the case, we find that the material on record is wholly insufficient to proceed against the Appellants. Accordingly, the Impugned Orders and the Docket Order dated 20.07.2021 are set aside and the criminal proceedings against the Appellants are consequently quashed.

The mechanical orders passed by the AP High Court which are dust-binned by Apex Court are below…

CrlP filed by In-Laws:

CrlP filed by Husband: