KRISHNA MANGLA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CRM-M-48602-2017 : This petition has been preferred under Sec. 482 Cr.P.C. seeking quashing of the impugned order dtd. 10/10/2017 (Annexure P-6) passed by Punjab State Commission for NRIs, Chandigarh.

(2.) Succinctly, the facts are that the complainant made a complaint before the concerned police, wherein, it was alleged that marriage of the complainant was solemnized with Sunil Gupta on 21/4/2007. At the time of their marriage, the parents of the complainant gave Rs.06,25,000.00 as dowry amount to Sunil Gupta (husband), Krishna Mangla (mother-in-law) and Suraj Bahadur Mangla (father-in-law). The aforesaid amount was utilized by the accused persons to buy a white Santro car. The ornaments worth Rs.10.00 lacs given to the complainant were also taken into possession by her mother-in-law immediately after the marriage. The accused also made continuous demands for money from the complainant and upon her refusal, they mistreated her. The mother-in-law of the complainant made her son transfer his entire salary into her account due to which the complainant was forced to spend her entire earnings on the daily household needs. Since the beginning of her marriage, the complainant was treated like a slave and was not even allowed to meet her family and friends. As a consequence of her refusal to meet their dowry demand, the complainant was mercilessly beaten by the accused on several occasions and was threatened with dire consequences. In 2008, the complainant gave birth to a son and even after that the accused did not mend their ways. The accused further demanded Rs.1.00 lac from the parents of the complainant when they came to meet her in her matrimonial house after the birth of her son. When they refused to meet the aforesaid demand, the accused took the complainant to a separate room and threatened to kill her and her son due to which she unwillingly accepted their demand. Along with the aforesaid amount of Rs.1.00 lac, a big Samsung TV and 2 gold chains were given to the accused, which were misappropriated by them. In June 2009, husband of the complainant went to United Kingdom (UK) and the complainant along with her son remained at the matrimonial home and continued to face harassment at the hands of her in-laws. One day, when the complainant was alone at home, her father-in-law got intoxicated on alcohol and made vulgar comments qua her physical appearance due to which she had to lock herself in a room. Further, she was threatened by her mother-in-law to keep silent about the entire incident. Then in March 2011, the husband of the complainant visited India and during that period that she conceived her second child. When the complainant revealed about her second pregnancy to her husband who had flown back to UK, she was abused on the phone and was told to get an abortion. Subsequently, she was forcibly taken to a gynaecologist by her in-laws to get an abortion done. Despite several requests from the complainant, her husband showed no willingness to call her to UK. So, she requested her employer for a deputation in UK and in October, 2012 she got an approval for a project and went to UK along with her son. When the complainant went to see her husband, she found out that he was living with another woman for the past 6 months and when she confronted him, he beat her up mercilessly. Even in UK, her husband forced her to part with her entire earnings as a payment towards the dowry demand. As the work project of the complainant finished, she returned back to India along with her son in November, 2013 and started living with her in-laws. In March, 2014, the husband of the complainant agreed to call her and the child to UK and she went there, she was made to do house hold work and was abused and beaten in front of her son. In October, 2014, her husband left her and the son and started living with another woman. Subsequently, the husband of the complainant kept on physically and mentally harassing her in order to force her into a mutual divorce. On the pretext of a family trip, the complainant was brought to India in October 2014 and she abused, threatened, and beaten by the accused to force her into a mutual divorce. Then the complainant and her husband along with their son all flew back to UK but the behaviour of her husband worsened to such an extent that she and her son were given severe beatings. Fearing for her as well as her son's life, the complainant agreed for a divorce and signed a divorce petition in March, 2015. But even after signing the divorce papers, the complainant continued to face harassment by her husband and ultimately filed a complaint against him before UK police. In August, 2016 the complainant came back to India along with her son but kept on getting threatening calls from the accused. On the basis of the aforesaid complaint, the FIR (supra) came to be registered. Subsequently, the petitioners Krishna Mangla (mother-in-law) and Suraj Bahadur Mangla (father-in-law) were arrested on 8/5/2017 and released on bail 22/5/2017 by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala. Since Sunil Gupta-husband was residing in UK, he could not be arrested.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioners inter alia contends that the FIR in the present case has been lodged by the complainant-wife in a vexatious manner after almost 2 years after she obtained a divorce decree (Annexure P-4) by way of one time settlement from a Family Court in UK. No such complaint was ever moved by the complainant-wife or her relatives against the petitioners despite her allegations that she was harassed from the very beginning of her marriage by them. On the complaint moved by the wife on 30/11/2016 before Senior Superintendent of Police, Patiala, an inquiry was conducted by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Headquarter Patiala and in his inquiry report (Annexure P-6) every a single allegation levelled by the complainant was found to be unsubstantiated. It is further contended that the allegations levelled by the complainant are vague and general in nature and therefore no case is made out against the petitioners.