Geetababi Khambra Vs State of MP and Anr on 9 Jan 2024

Posted on December 15, 2024 by ShadesOfKnife

A single bench of MP High Court at Jabalpur, held that absence of specific date and time when the complainant-wife was subjected to the demand of dowry is sufficient to quash Dowry demand allegation.

From Para 6,

6. In the present case, this Court issued notices to the respondent No. 2. The report of the office reflects that the notices were served upon the respondent No. 2 yet respondent No. 2 has not appeared before this Court nor any one has filed any Vakalatnama on behalf of respondent No. 2. It is also undisputed that prosecution was initially launched against the husband of petitioner No. 2 Rahul Gaur who has also expired after lodging of F.I.R. A perusal of F.I.R discloses the allegation against the present petitioners that they used to visit the complainant who was residing at Rachna Nagar and used to demand Rs.5 lakhs in order to buy a bigger house. F.I.R. discloses that complainant was not residing with the present petitioners and was residing at Rachna Nagar with her husband. According to complainant petitioner No. 3 also used to record conversation and used to humiliate her. It is further mentioned in the F.I.R that the petitioner No. 2 was acting on the instructions of petitioner No. 1. After registration of F.I.R the statement of the complainant and her parents were also recorded. The statement are there on record. Perusal of all the statement reflects that identical allegations have been levelled by all the witnesses. The allegations are not specific. There are no particulars like specific date and time when the complaint was subjected to the demand of dowry. As per complainant own showing the present petitioners were not residing with the present complainant but the complainant made an effort to demonstrate that the present petitioners used to visit her at place. The said particulars have not been disclosed by the complainant in the F.I.R. or there is any disclosure of such particulars in the entire statement of the witnesses.

Geetababi Khambra Vs State of MP and Anr on 9 Jan 2024

Index of Quash judgments is here.

Samad Habib Mithani and Ors Vs State of Maharashtra and Anr on 25 Jul 2024

Posted on August 13, 2024 by ShadesOfKnife

A division (women!) bench of Bombay High Court at Bombay quashed a fake case on in-laws.

From Para 10,

10…
Hence, from the above mentioned statements of the relatives of the Respondent No.2, it is obvious that there are no serious allegations as such against the present Applicants. These are merely omnibus allegations which are not supported by any evidence, as regards the ill-treatment and cruelty meted to the Respondent No.2. The allegations in the complaint are general and vague without specific examples of cruelty and harassment. The record and the statements do not support the allegations made against the present Applicants. The complaint against the present Applicants is not supported by any documents, letter, e-mails, message to support the allegation of cruelty and harassment.

From Para 16,

16. In our opinion, the case of the present Applicants would fall under the category (ii) from the above referred three categories, where the allegations in the FIR or the complaint taken to its face value and accepted in their entirety do not constitute the offence alleged. Merely, remarks in the complaint about the supporting the accused No.1 while narrating some of the incidents would not perse amount to committing the offences which they have been alleged of. It would be unfair to continue the prosecution against the present Applicants for the conduct of the accused No.1, in which they have been unfortunately dragged. From the various incidents which have been narrated by the Respondent No.2 as well as the witnesses, who are her near relatives, there does not appear to be complicity of the present Applicants. The continuation of present proceedings against the Applicants would cause injustice and hardship to the Applicants. Even otherwise, the material collected during the investigation does not support the charges levelled against the present Applicants. The malafide proceedings initiated against the present Applicants needs to be curbed at this stage itself, in order to prevent abuse or process of law and miscarriage of justice, since it is obvious that the allegations are not supported by any other cogent material and have been made with a view to wreak vengeance against the present Applicants.

Samad Habib Mithani and Ors Vs State of Maharashtra and Anr on 25 Jul 2024

Index of Quash judgments is here.

CB Prakash and Anr Vs State of Karnataka and Anr on 04 Jun 2024

Posted on July 1, 2024 by ShadesOfKnife

A single judge of Karnataka High Court held as follows, while quashing false FIR against In-Laws,

From Para 10,

10. There are scores and scores of cases where allegations are made that have pointed overt acts by every member of the family which are sustained and further trial is permitted. There are even scores and scores of cases where every member of the family without rhyme or reason is dragged into the web of crime by frivolous complaints registered by the complainant/wife while the entire grievance is against the husband and every imaginary member of the family is dragged in. It is these cases which are to be nipped in the bud. Bud, I mean, at the stage of registration of the crime, failing which, it would run foul of the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of KAHKASHAN KAUSAR v. STATE OF BIHAR1

CB Prakash and Anr Vs State of Karnataka and Anr on 04 Jun 2024

Index of Quash judgments is here.

Mainoddin Vs State of Karnataka on 02 Feb 2024

Posted on March 24, 2024 by ShadesOfKnife

A division bench of Apex Court held that, ‘vague,general and omnibus allegations against the family members/relatives implicating them in matrimonial disputes are an abuse of process of
law.’

From Paras 4 and 5,

4. The present appellant is the younger brother of the husband of complainant-respondent no.2 and the only allegation made against him in the last
paragraph of the complaint is that all the family members of the husband joined together and used foul language against the complainant of not
getting dowry from her family.
5. It is already well settled by this Court in the case of Geeta Mehrotra & Anr. vs. State of U.P. and Anr. reported in (2012) 10 SCC 741 and also in the case of Kahkashan Kausar @ Sonam & Ors. vs. State of Bihar & Ors. in Criminal Appeal No.195 of 2022 decided on 08.02.2022, that such vague, general and omnibus allegations against thefamily members/relatives implicating them in matrimonial disputes are an abuse of process of law.

Mainoddin Vs State of Karnataka on 02 Feb 2024

Index of landmark quash judgements is here.

Anil Kumar and 2 Ors Vs State of A.P. and Anr on 3 Apr 2019

Posted on March 9, 2021 by ShadesOfKnife

Justice B. Siva Sankar Rao trashed the falsely-laid proceedings of Dowry and 498A IPC against the family members as there were no specific allegations made up on them and no supporting evidence collected by the Police.

6. There is no record even shown from the police charge sheet by collecting from father of de facto complainant as to any so called additional amount of Rs.4,30,000/- given out of his retirement benefits or 15 tulas of gold. It is crucial if at all to believe as to what were the retirement benefits he received and when from his account he parted with. There is no date or time even mentioned either in the report or from the police investigation to believe, leave about the fact that the so-called marriage performed, from the police investigation out of love affair between A-1 and de facto complainant against the will of the parents of the de facto complainant and the parents of A-1, who are A-2 & A-3 from the beginning agreed for the love marriage with no objection. Once such is the case, even the stray allegation of the petitioners/A-2 to A-4 used to abuse her as not of their caste or religion and if they marry another girl, they could get more dowry itself is unbelievable, for the very marriage is love marriage. Even to say that there was any instigation to A-1 by A-2 to A-4 for additional dowry when it is a love marriage and no dowry shown paid originally and as discussed supra of no any payment of dowry by father of de facto complainant after his retirement from his benefits alleged, the question of any payment of additional dowry is unbelievable. It clearly shows the petitioners/A-2 to A-4 are roped without any basis for reasons better known by the de facto complainant and the police investigation in this regard is also perfunctory and baseless and the legal position is very clear that unless from the specific allegations in the complaint against the other relatives of the husband, no cognizance can be taken against the family members, particularly from the tendency of making baseless allegations in roping them and even a stray sentence as suffered harassment in the hands of in-laws, etc., is not sufficient to sustain any such accusation to rope the other family members of the husband of the de facto complainant, so-called victim.

Anil Kumar and 2 Ors Vs State of A.P. and Anr on 3 Apr 2019

Anil Kumar and 2 Ors Vs State of A.P. Anr on 03 Apr 2019

Posted on December 25, 2020 by ShadesOfKnife

Single Judge Bench of JUSTICE Dr. B.SIVA SANKARA RAO, quashed the false 498A/DP Act complaint on Father in law and two sisters in law. Just one Paragraph !!!

From Para 6,

6. There is no record even shown from the police charge sheet by collecting from father of de facto complainant as to any so-called additional amount of Rs.4,30,000/- given out of his retirement benefits or 15 tulas of gold. It is crucial if at all to believe as to what were the retirement benefits he received and when from his account he parted with. There is no date or time even mentioned either in the report or from the police investigation to believe, leave about the fact that the so-called marriage performed, from the police investigation out of love affair between A-1 and de facto complainant against the will of the parents of the de facto complainant and the parents of A-1, who are A-2 & A-3 from the beginning agreed for the love marriage with no objection. Once such is the case, even the stray allegation of the petitioners/A-2 to A-4 used to abuse her as not of their caste or religion and if they marry another girl, they could get more dowry itself is unbelievable, for the very marriage is love marriage. Even to say that there was any instigation to A-1 by A-2 to A-4 for additional dowry when it is a love marriage and no dowry shown paid originally and as discussed supra of no any payment of dowry by father of de facto complainant after his retirement from his benefits alleged, the question of any payment of additional dowry is unbelievable. It clearly shows the petitioners/A-2 to A-4 are roped without any basis for reasons better known by the de facto complainant and the police investigation in this regard is also perfunctory and baseless and the legal position is very clear that unless from the specific allegations in the complaint against the other relatives of the husband, no cognizance can be taken against the family members, particularly from the tendency of making baseless allegations in roping them and even a stray sentence as suffered harassment in the hands of in-laws, etc., is not sufficient to sustain any such accusation to rope the other family members of the husband of the de facto complainant, so-called victim.

Anil Kumar and 2 Ors Vs State of A.P. Anr on 03 Apr 2019

Citations :

Other Sources :

Index of Quash judgments here.

Shabnam Sheikh Vs State of Maharashtra on 15 Oct 2020

Posted on October 21, 2020 by ShadesOfKnife

Vagua allegations don’t take fake cases far. Bombay HS quashed the fake case of 498A IPC against the relatively.

From Para 14,

14. Nowadays, it has become a tendency to make vague and omnibus allegations, against every member of the family of the husband, implicating everybody under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code. Hence, it has become necessary for the Courts to carefully scrutinize the allegations and to find out if the allegations made really constitute an offence and meet the requirements of the law at least prima facie.

Shabnam Sheikh Vs State of Maharashtra on 15 Oct 2020

Amarjit Kaur and Ors Vs Jaswinder Kaur and Ors on 15 May 2020

Posted on May 18, 2020 by ShadesOfKnife

Taking cue from Geeta Mehrotra judgment here, Punjab High Court has quashed proceedings on relatives living far away in Canada taking a ground that no specific allegation are in the complaint.

Amarjit Kaur and Ors Vs Jaswinder Kaur and Ors on 15 May 2020

Citations: [2]

Other Source links: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/12422589/

State of AP Vs Pinninti Appalareddi on 27 February 2020

Posted on March 14, 2020 by ShadesOfKnife

State of AP Vs Pinninti Appalareddi on 27 February 2020

Citations: [

Kamlesh Ghanshyam Lohia Vs State of Maharashtra on 23 August, 2019

Posted on September 3, 2019 by ShadesOfKnife

Good judgment from Hon’ble Bombay High Court which held that mere demand of money not coupled with cruelty/harassment, does not attract provisions of 498A IPC.

Kamlesh Ghanshyam Lohia Vs State of Maharashtra on 23 August, 2019

Citations :

Other Sources :

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/194898319/

Shades of Knife

True Colors of a Vile Wife

Tag: IPC 498a – Not Made Out Against Parents or Relatives

Geetababi Khambra Vs State of MP and Anr on 9 Jan 2024

Samad Habib Mithani and Ors Vs State of Maharashtra and Anr on 25 Jul 2024

CB Prakash and Anr Vs State of Karnataka and Anr on 04 Jun 2024

Mainoddin Vs State of Karnataka on 02 Feb 2024

Anil Kumar and 2 Ors Vs State of A.P. and Anr on 3 Apr 2019

Anil Kumar and 2 Ors Vs State of A.P. Anr on 03 Apr 2019

Shabnam Sheikh Vs State of Maharashtra on 15 Oct 2020

Amarjit Kaur and Ors Vs Jaswinder Kaur and Ors on 15 May 2020

State of AP Vs Pinninti Appalareddi on 27 February 2020

Kamlesh Ghanshyam Lohia Vs State of Maharashtra on 23 August, 2019