NERATURI CHAKRADHAR RAO Vs. STATION HOUSE OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners seek to quash the proceedings initiated against them in C.C.No.266 of 2004 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Huzurnagar.

(2.) The petitioners are A.1 to A.4 in the said case. The crime against them was registered in Cr.No.22/2004 on a complaint filed by the second respondent herein and the same having been forwarded to the Station House Officer, Huzurnagar Police Station, under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for brevity 'the Code') for investigation. Eventually at the culmination of investigation, the Investigating Officer laid the charge-sheet against the petitioners before the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Huzurnagar for the offences punishable under Sections 498-A and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, when cognizance whereof was taken by the Court. Pursuant to the summonses issued by the Court, the petitioners appeared before it.

(3.) The first petitioner/A. 1 is the husband of the second respondent, their marriage having been solemnized on 29.12.2002. A.2, A.3 and A.4 are the mother, sister and maternal grandmother of A.1 respectively. It is the case of the prosecution that at the time of marriage, the parents of the second respondent gave net cash of Rs.70,000/-, gold ornaments worth Rs.20,000/- and household articles worth Rs.15,000/- besides promising to deposit an amount of Rs.50,000/- in the name of second respondent. However, A.1 to A.4 started harassing her to get that amount of Rs.50,000/- to them and in that connection they used to beat her daily and abuse her. While things stood thus, when the mother and grandmother of the second respondent visited Kondaguntur Village whereat the accused and the second respondent were residing, A.1 to A.4 confined them and obtained their signatures on blank promissory notes. A few days thereafter the grandmother of A.1 died. A.1 and A.2 demanded the mother and grandmother of the second respondent over phone to bring Rs.10,000/- for funeral expenses and threatened to kill the second respondent in the event of any failure. Therefore, the mother of the second respondent, one Manda Suryanarayana and Mohammad Hazi, who were residents of Huzurnagar, visited Kondaguntur Village and approached Rajanagaram Police. A.1 to A.4 agreed for divorce in between the first petitioner and the second respondent before the police. However, they did not come forward to take divorce. The parents of the second respondent, therefore, took her to Huzurnagar whereat the second respondent filed a complaint before the Judicial Magistrate of First Class. As aforesaid, that complaint was forwarded to the police for investigation and eventually charge-sheet was laid against the accused.