CHAMAN RANI Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The first information report (FIR) no.337/09 was registered on 13.07.2009 at the instance of the third respondent in these proceedings alleging offences punishable under Sections 498A, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), apparently on the basis of a complaint lodged under Sec. 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr. PC), in police station Serampore District Hooghly, West Bengal under the directions of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Serampore, District Hooghly, in the State of West Bengal. It appears from the copy of the said FIR and the other documents on record that the third respondent, a native of district Hooghli in the State of West Bengal had, inter alia, claimed in her complaint that she had entered into a marriage with Sh. Prashant Meena, son of the first petitioner, according to vedic rites and customs on 10.02.2009 at a temple in New Delhi.

(2.) By the petition at hand, invoking criminal writ jurisdiction of this court under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, presented in Feb. 2010, the petitioners prayed for the above-said FIR to be quashed or, in the alternative, for a writ of mandamus to be issued directing the appropriate authority to transfer the said FIR from Kolkata (State of West Bengal) to the jurisdiction of appropriate court in New Delhi.

(3.) It may be mentioned here that the writ petition was presented for and on behalf of the six petitioners including the first petitioner, she being the mother of the person of whom the third respondent (the first informant of the case) claimed to be the lawfully wedded wife, others being their close relatives. On submissions made, at the instance of the third respondent on 07.07.2004, two of the original petitioners (Sunita and Gaurav) were, however, deleted from the array on the ground that the FIR was "not directed" against them. In terms of the amended memo of parties submitted on 04.08.2010, in the wake of the said order dated 07.07.2010, the petition has been pressed further by the remaining four original petitioners, the second petitioner (Arvind) and fourth petitioner (Renuka) being the other son and daughter of the first petitioner, they being siblings of Prashant Meena while the third petitioner (Seema), is wife of another son of the first petitioner.