SUBAL SARKAR Vs. PURABI SARKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners called in question the legality of the judgment and order dated 2-3-2005 rendered by the learned Sessions Judge, South Tripura, Udaipur in Criminal Revision No. 27(4)/2004 whereby the order dated 24-8-2004 of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, South Tripura, Udaipur in CR 287 of 2003 on the question of local Jurisdiction of the said Court to try an offence punishable under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code has been quashed with a direction to that Court to proceed with the case in accordance with law.

(2.) The background facts sans unnecessary details are as follows : On 28-7-2003, the respondent herein Smt. Purabi Sarkar instituted a proceeding in the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, South Tripura, Udaipur by filing a written complaint against her husband Shri Subal Sarkar, the first petitioner herein and other petitioners alleging that since after her marriage on 13-5-2000 she was under pressure from the petitioners to bring dowry from her father to the tune of Rs. 50,000/- though her father at the time of marriage paid Rs. 25,000/- in cash and spent an amount of Rs. 1,25,000/- in the marriage which was beyond his financial capacity. Her unwillingness to approach her father for more money culminated to mental and physical torture by all the petitioners and when she was pregnant for three months, the first, sixth and seventh petitioners had taken her to Agartala, got her admitted in the I.G.M. Hospital and against her will forced termination of her pregnancy. The story of cruelty did not end there. On 23-3-2003 and 27-3-2003, the petitioners tortured her physically on demand of Rs. 50,000/- and then drove her away. Since then she had taken shelter with her parents and when all attempts to settle the dispute failed, she was compelled under the circumstances to formally lodge a complaint under Section 498- A of the Indian Penal Code.

(3.) The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate after taking cognizance of the offence on 29- 7-2003 and, after examining the respondent wife under Section 200 of the Cr. P.C. Issued bailable warrant of arrest. The proceeding continued till 16-8-2004 after examination of three witnesses on 18-10-2003 produced by the respondent wife and at that stage the learned counsel for the petitioners herein submitted a petition under Section 177. read with Section 462 of the Criminal Procedure Code advancing a prayer that as the alleged incident of physical and mental torture had taken place in the matrimonial house at Charilam under West Tripura District, the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate of South Tripura District had no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the complaint only because she was temporarily residing in the house of her parents within the local jurisdiction of that Court. By an order dated 24-8-2004, the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, South Tripura, Udaipur disposed of the said petition after holding that it had no local Jurisdiction to entertain such a complaint in the face of the admitted facts constituting the alleged offence having occurred within local jurisdiction of the competent Court of West Tripura District. Accordingly, all the accused persons were discharged after rejecting the complaint.