GURDIP SINGH Vs. DAIJIT KAUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Brief facts leading to the present petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are that Daljit Kaur filed complaint Annexure P-1 dated 3-2-1988 against her husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law i.e. sister of the husband under Sections 406/420, 498-A I.P.C. and Sections 4 and 6 of the Dowry Prohibition Act in the Court of Chief Judiciai Magistrate, Hoshiarpur. In brief her case was that her parents and other relations had given her presents mentioned in the list enclosed with the complaint at the time of her marriage with petitioner No.1. The said articles exclusively belonged to her as her Istridhan. The articles were entrusted to the husband and other relations of the husband mentioned above. The relations between the husband and the wife got estranged and the wife claimed the aforesaid articles from the accused and they failed to restore the same.

(2.) After recording preliminary evidence, comprising her own statement and that of Baljit Singh and Pritam Singh, the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate passed summoning order dated 25-4-1988 annexure P-2 summoning the husband and both his parents but dismissed the complaint so far as sister of the husband is concerned. The husband and his parents seek quashing of the complaint as also the summoning order through this petition.

(3.) The main contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that the allegations of entrustment was in general terms and there was no specific allegation with regard to various articles of dowry vis-a-vis a particular accused. He also submitted that according to the practice prevalent in this part of the country, mother does not accompany the marriage party of her son and there was, therefore, no question of entrustment to the mother-in-law and requiring the mother-in-law to stand prosecution would be abuse of process of the Court. The learned counel also contended that averments regarding alleged cruelty were also vague and the particularly acts of omission or commission attributed to each individual accused were not detailed.