AJAIB KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AJAIB Kaur and Pritam Singh have come to this Court in the petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing the complaint Annexure P-1 and the summoning order Annexure P-2. Sukhminder Kaur, who is the wife of Jagbachan Singh non-petitioner, filed a complaint for offences under Sections 498-A and 406 read with Section 109 Indian Penal Code. As per the averments made, Sukhminder Kaur was married to Jagbachan Singh on June 17, 1986 at village Talwandi Rai, Tehsil Jagraon. Pritam Singh is the maternal uncle of Jagbachan Singh while Ajaib Kaur is the wife of Pritam Singh. Jagbachan Singh and his brother had been brought up by the petitioners. At the time of marriage various articles of dowry, as detailed in para 3 of the complaint and listed in Annexure 'A' with the complaints, were handed over to Jagbachan Singh and the petitioners. These articles were taken to Ram Nagar Tehsil Ladwa where the complainant lived with her husband and out of that wedlock, a son and a daughter were born. A sister of the complaint had also been married to the other brother of Jagbachan Singh on the same day and she was given television set. The accused started maltreating the complainant on the basis that she should bring television set from her parents to which she showed her inability. In February 1990 the marriage of Gurmeet Singh cousin of the complainant was to take place. The parents of the complainant went to Ram Nagar to invite the complainant, her sister and their husband but the accused insulted them the treated them shabbily. The accused told them that they will not keep the complainant unless their demand for television set was met. Ultimately the parents brought the complainant and her sister to their parental house. Jagbachan Singh and his brother Jagjiwan Singh had not attended the marriage of Gurmeet Singh cousin of the complainant. To settle the disputes, a panchayat was held on May 11, 1991 where a compromise was arrived at and as a consequence of that compromise, Jagbachan Singh and his brother started living and working at village Pakhowal. In the last week of month of August 1991, both the petitioners visited Pakhowal and they both as well as Jagbachan Singh and his brother asked the complainant and her sister not bring Rs. 50, 000/- from their parents failing which they threatened to dispose of the entire property and to throw the complainant and her sister out of the house. Since the complainant and her sister showed their inability to do so, the complainant was maltreated and was kept hungry and under solitary confinement. This act was done on September 13, 1991. Both the petitioners had remained at Pakhowal from September 13,1991 till September 21, 1991. On September 15 and 16, 1991 the complainant was again forced to meet the demands made by them and ultimately on September 22, 1991, the petitioner as well as Jagbachan Singh left for Ram Nagar taking all the valuables and had abused and kicked the complainant at that time. Her sister and her family had already left for Ram Nagar in the first week of September 1991. On September 23, 1991 Major Joginder Singh came to the house and told the complainant that he had purchased all the lands and the house and it should be vacated. She, thus, complains of commission of offences under Sections 498-A, 406 and 109, Indian Penal Code.

(2.) THE marriage was solemnised on June 17, 1986 and the complainant stayed with her husband till September 22, 1991. Since it is a definite statement in the complaint that on the basis of a compromise arrived at on May 11, 1991 Jagbachan Singh had shifted to Pakhowal and started working there and the complaint has been staying with him and also the fact that it was on September 22, 1991 that Jagbachan Singh and the petitioners left for Ram Nagar, the allegations that the present petitioners had committed a criminal breach of trust stand washed off. Whatever dowry may have been given had been brought back by the complainant and her husband to Pakhowal where they continued to live till September 22, 1991. If the husband left alongwith all the articles and the petitioners helped him in taking the articles from Pakhowal to Ram Nagar, no offence under Section 406 Indian Penal Code can be established.

(3.) I hereby allow the petition and quash the complaint Annexure P-1, the summoning order Annexure P-2 and all consequent proceedings qua the petitioners.