TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (11) TMI 1188
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...., 1860 ["IPC"] and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 against private respondent Nos.1 to 5 herein. 3. At the outset, it will be pertinent to mention that respondent Nos.1 to 5 herein have not entered appearance in the present case and vide order dated 28.03.2025, this Court appointed Mr. Prakhar Srivastava, learned counsel, as Amicus Curiae to assist the Court (Pro Bono) on behalf of the unrepresented respondents. A. FACTUAL MATRIX 4. Brief facts of the present matter are that the marriage between the appellant and respondent No. 1 was solemnized on 20.11.2020 in accordance with Muslim traditions and customs. From the marriage, a son was born. During the initial days of the marriage, the appellant was treated well by respondent No. 1 and his family members. 5. However, after 5-6 months of the marriage, the private respondents started harassing the appellant by taunting her that her father had given nothing in dowry. Her husband and other members of his family started hurling filthy abuses at the appellant. Further, respondent No.1, told the appellant to fetch Rs.50 lakhs from her father so that he can pass the MIC examination. He told her, he will only....
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....view that the matter requires consideration, more so, in view of the observation made by the High Court in Para No.10 of the impugned order. 4. Issue notice, returnable on 28.02.2025. 5. Dasti service, in addition, is permitted. Steps for service be taken within two weeks." (emphasis supplied) This Court noted that this matter requires consideration, more so, in view of the observation made by the High Court in paragraph 10 of the impugned order. B. SUBMISSIONS OF PARTIES 11. We have heard the learned counsel for the appellant, learned Amicus Curiae for the unrepresented private respondent Nos.1 to 5 and learned counsel for respondent No.6-State of Madhya Pradesh. 12. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent No.6/State argues that power of quashing should be exercised only in rarest of rare cases. The High Court while examining an FIR/complaint ought not to embark upon an enquiry as to the reliability and genuineness of allegations. It was also argued that merely because the appellant did not mention the two specific incidents earlier in the complaints before registration of the FIR, the same could not have been termed as an afterthought wh....
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....ses for our analysis is whether the High Court was right in quashing the criminal proceedings against the private respondents primarily on the ground that the earlier complaints did not mention the two specific incidents dated 22.07.2021 and 27.11.2022, which were later on added in the FIR and whether the same would not amount to conducting a 'mini trial' which is clearly prohibited under the scheme of Section 482 of the Cr. PC. 18. At the outset it will be appropriate to advert to the observations made by the High Court in paragraphs 9 and 10 of the impugned order: "9. It is undisputed that prior to filing FIR (Annexure P/5), a written complaint dated 22.01.2023 (Annexure P/3) was filed before Mahila Police Station, Ratlam, District Ratlam (MP) for the alleged harassment meted out to respondent No.2 from her husband and in-laws (applicants before this Court). It is also not in dispute that both the parties i.e. applicant No. 1 and respondent No.2, on their counter allegations, were advised by Police Mahila Thana, Ratlam to take recourse of law, but no action was taken on the above 3 MCRC-10695-2024 complaint by respondent No.2. In such a situation, if respondent No.2 w....
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.... tea once a day, she has installed cameras in my kitchen. My motherin-law locks me in the house from outside. She does not allow me to talk to my husband. My husband would come to me at 11 o'clock in the night and would quarrel with me and assault me. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law would come to Ghosla almost every day and would scare me and threaten to kill me. They do not give me my mobile phone, they do not let my family members come to Ghosla and talk to me even on the phone. It is the daily routine of my father-in-law to hurl abuses morning and evening." ***** 23.01.2023 .... Since after my marriage, I have been tortured and threatened. Ask your father to give a car and a demand was raised for an A.C. in my sister-in-law's marriage. When the demand could not be fulfilled by my father, I am being made to eat same vegetable for three days and they do not allow me to take my breakfast and I am given tea only once in a day. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and father-in-law come together to my room and hurl abuses and threaten me. My father-in-law hurls abuses in obscene language and my mother-in-law makes me work the entire day and ....
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....ated upon the scope of Section 482 of the Cr. PC. It was held thus: "102. In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relevant provisions of the Code under Chapter XIV and of the principles of law enunciated by this Court in a series of decisions relating to the exercise of the extraordinary power under Article 226 or the inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code which we have extracted and reproduced above, we have given the following categories of cases by way of illustration wherein such power could be exercised either to prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice, though it may not be possible to lay down any precise, clearly defined and sufficiently channelized and inflexible guidelines or rigid formulae and to give an exhaustive list of myriad kinds of cases wherein such power should be exercised. (1) Where the allegations made in the first information report or the complaint, even if they are taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused. (2) Where the allegations in the first information report and othe....
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....Court might in exercise of its inherent powers under Section 482 quash criminal proceedings. However, interference would only be justified when the complaint did not disclose any offence, or was patently frivolous, vexatious or oppressive, as held by this Court in Dhanalakshmi v. R. Prasanna Kumar [1990 Supp SCC 686 : 1991 SCC (Cri) 142 : AIR 1990 SC 494] . ***** 36. Offence under Section 306 IPC of abetment to commit suicide is a grave, non-compoundable offence. Of course, the inherent power of the High Court under Section 482 CrPC is wide and can even be exercised to quash criminal proceedings relating to non-compoundable offences, to secure the ends of justice or to prevent abuse of the process of court. Where the victim and offender have compromised disputes essentially civil and personal in nature, the High Court can exercise its power under Section 482 CrPC to quash the criminal proceedings. In what cases power to quash an FIR or a criminal complaint or criminal proceedings upon compromise can be exercised, would depend on the facts and circumstances of the case." 22. On the aspect of the powers of the Courts under Section 482 of the Cr. PC, it is settled that ....
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....has observed that the charges against the accused are not proved. This is not the stage where the prosecution/investigating agency is/are required to prove the charges. The charges are required to be proved during the trial on the basis of the evidence led by the prosecution/investigating agency." (emphasis supplied) 25. This Court in Neeharika Infrastructure Private Limited (supra) gave following directions to the Courts exercising the power under Section 482 of the Cr. PC: "Conclusions 33. In view of the above and for the reasons stated above, our final conclusions on the principal/core issue, whether the High Court would be justified in passing an interim order of stay of investigation and/or "no coercive steps to be adopted", during the pendency of the quashing petition under Section 482CrPC and/or under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and in what circumstances and whether the High Court would be justified in passing the order of not to arrest the accused or "no coercive steps to be adopted" during the investigation or till the final report/charge-sheet is filed under Section 173CrPC, while dismissing/disposing of/not entertaining/not quashing t....
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.... 26. Further, this Court in the case of State of Telangana v. Habib Abdullah Jeelani and Others [(2017) 2 SCC 779] held that: "13. There can be no dispute over the proposition that inherent power in a matter of quashment of FIR has to be exercised sparingly and with caution and when and only when such exercise is justified by the test specifically laid down in the provision itself. There is no denial of the fact that the power under Section 482 CrPC is very wide but it needs no special emphasis to state that conferment of wide power requires the Court to be more cautious. It casts an onerous and more diligent duty on the Court. 14. In this regard, it would be seemly to reproduce a passage from Kurukshetra University [Kurukshetra University v. State of Haryana, (1977) 4 SCC 451: 1977 SCC (Cri) 613] wherein Chandrachud, J. (as his Lordship then was) opined thus : (SCC p. 451, para 2) "2. It surprises us in the extreme that the High Court thought that in the exercise of its inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it could quash a first information report. The police had not even commenced investigation into the complaint filed ....