GOUTAM MONDAL Vs. DOLON MONDAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Invoking Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the present petitioners, who are happened to be the husband and the relatives of the husband have approached this Court for quashing of a criminal case relating to an offence punishable under Sections 498A/406 of the Indian Penal Code, on the following grounds;

(2.) I have given my anxious and thoughtful consideration to the grounds on which the petitioners are seeking quashing of the impugned complaint. In my opinion, none of the grounds are tenable in law for quashing of a criminal complaint. At the stage when the Court is posed with a question for quashing of a complaint, it is not permissible to enter into the question of truth or falsehood of the prosecution case. Whether such allegations have been made motivatedly and mala fide is purely a question of trial. The contention of the petitioner that a divorce suit is pending that cannot be the ground for quashing of a criminal complaint. Similarly, the delay in lodging complaint is not per se illegal and being a pure question of fact can only be taken into consideration during the trial.

(3.) In this case, having gone through the petition of complaint, I find that there is specific allegation that after marriage and after the complainant gave birth to a child, the present petitioners asked her to bring Rs. 2 lakhs from her parents and as the parents of the petitioner could not fulfil their such demand, she was subjected to torture. According to the provision of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, this allegation clearly attracts the proviso to Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. Therefore, it cannot be said, no offence has been made out. It is the further allegation that at the time of the marriage whatever articles were given to the defacto-complainant, which are her exclusive stridhan properties, have also not been returned to her when she was driven out from her matrimonial home and have been mis-appropriated by the accused persons, this also clearly makes out an offence punishable under Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code. The truth or falsity of such allegation cannot be determined at this stage. The Court is not supposed to see when dealing with the matter for quashing, which version of the case is true, whether the version of the complainant or that of the accused persons.