AJAIB SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AJAIB Singh and other petitioners, who have been summoned as accused persons by the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Ropar, on the complaint of Smt. Ajmer Kaur, respondent No. 2 under sections 494 and 497 Indian Penal Code have filed this petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for quashing the proceedings pending against them in that Court.

(2.) AFTER going through the contents of the complaint and the preliminary evidence led by the respondent No. 2 in the court, I am of the view that the petition should be accepted. It is settled principle of law that a valid second marriage has to be proved by way of direct and reliable evidence before a person accused of such an offence can be asked to face the charge. In the complaint, the date of the marriage is not stated. It is nowhere stated if any of the witnesses had ever seen the ceremony of marriage being performed between Ajaib Singh petitioner No. 1 and Harbans Kaur, petitioner No. 2. Similarly, the witnesses examine in the preliminary enquiry have not stated it in their presence any marriage had been performed. They have only stated that the marriage of Ajaib Singh was performed with Harbans Kaur according to Sikh rites. The learned counsel for the respondent No. 2 wants me to take that they had made this deposition only on account of their having witnessed the actual performance of the marriage. I fail to agree with the learned counsel on that point as nothing can be read in their statements, which they did not actually state. In the absence of any direct evidence, mere repetition of the same story by the witnesses, whose evidence may be based on hearsay, is not sufficient proof of the second marriage.

(3.) IN view of these shortcomings, I am of the view that this case is one, which can be conveniently described as without any evidence and the prosecution of the case would result in the misuse of the process of law to the detriment of the petitioners, who are being prosecuted on the basis of the allegations referred to above which do not constitute any evidence. The petition is, therefore, accepted and the proceedings against the petitioners are hereby quashed. Petition accepted.