RAMESH CH. CHOUDHURY Vs. MOKHESWAR KHATANIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal against an order passed by a First Class Magistrate of Barpeta acquitting the accused Mokheswar Khataniar of a charge under Section 494, I.P. Code. The case for the prosecution was that the accused Mokheswar Khataniar married a girl by the name of Hironbala (P.W. 3), daughter of one Keshab Chandra Das, in the year 1955, and that the husband and the wife lived together for about a year, after which they fell out, and the girl went away to her parents' place.

(2.) THE accused pleaded not guilty, and his defence, inter alia, was that the reluctance of his former wife Hironbala to come and stay with him and the intransigence on the part of her father, Keshab Ch. Das (P.W. 2), to send her to his place, amounted to a severance of the marital tie, and he was, therefore, free to marry for the second time, which he did.

(3.) THE only objection that was taken as to the validity of this proceeding was that the complaint was not filed by the girl or the person aggrieved, as is the requirement of Section 198, Cri.P.C. which says: