IMPORTANT POINT
Evidence in defence of accused cannot be looked into at the stage of section 482.

JUDGMENT :

L. NAGESWARA RAO, J.

1. The above Appeal is filed against the judgment of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Principal Seat at Jabalpur by which a criminal proceeding against Respondent Nos.1 and 3 was quashed in exercise of its power under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short “the CrPC”).

2. The Appellant filed a complaint before the Police Station Kareli, District Narsinghpur on which FIR No.285 of 2014 was registered on 08.05.2014. According to the complaint, it was urged that Respondent Nos.1 to 3 subjected Nilu, the wife of the Appellant to harassment due to which she committed suicide along with her two children. The first Respondent is the wife of elder brother of the Appellant. The second and third Respondents are the brothers of the first Respondent. The brother of the Appellant and Respondent No.1 were living separately. Respondent No.1 was not satisfied with the land which was given by the Appellant’s father to her husband. Respondent No.1 along with her brothers, Respondent Nos.2 and 3, started harassing the family of the Appellant especially Nilu. According to the FIR, Respondent Nos.1 to 3 used to quarrel with the deceased Nilu. On 05.05.2014, Respondent No.1 filed a false complaint against the Appellant and his parents. She also intimidated Mahendra Singh Kourav, maternal uncle of the Appellant by threatening him that she would pour kerosene oil and set herself on fire along with her children and implicate the entire family of the Appellant in a criminal case. Mahendra Singh Kourav made a complaint about the said incident of intimidation to the Police Station on 07.05.2014. The Appellant, his family members and Respondent Nos.1 to 3 were called to the Police Station and the matter was settled for the time being. Thereafter, Respondent Nos.1 to 3 went to the village Jhumri and assaulted the deceased Nilu. Unable to bear the torture, Nilu along with her children Harisharan aged 1½ years and Ramsharan aged 1½ years committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train.

3. A final report was filed on 19.07.2014 on completion of investigation. A petition under Section 482 of the CrPC was filed for quashing the criminal proceedings. It was contended on behalf of Respondent Nos.1 to 3 before the High Court that the ingredients of Section 306 IPC have not been made out and the proceedings are liable to be quashed. According to Respondent Nos.1 to 3, the FIR and the charge sheet would only disclose that the entire family of the Appellant was being harassed. The Respondents cannot be held guilty of offence under Section 306 as there is nothing on record to show that they have incited the deceased to take the extreme step of committing suicide.

4. The High Court summoned the record of investigation and perused the statements recorded by the Appellant and his family members under Section 161 CrPC. The High Court held that statements recorded under Section 161 CrPC. would show that Respondent No.1 is a quarrelsome lady who has threatened the Appellant’s family of false implication in a criminal case. The High Court observed that none of the persons whose statements under Section 161 CrPC were recorded have mentioned about the complaint of the deceased and that she was thinking of committing suicide due to the harassment of Respondent Nos.1 to 3. The High Court recorded a finding that Ramsharan Kourav, the uncle of the deceased, has stated in his statement under Section 161 that the deceased informed him that she is unable to bear the torture of Respondent Nos.1 to 3 and was thinking of putting an end to her life.

5. The High Court observed that the allegations made against Respondent Nos.1 to 3 at the most constitute an offence under Section 506 IPC for criminal intimidation. Read as a whole, the allegations made against Respondent Nos.1 to 3 did not make out an offence under Section 306/34 IPC. The High Court further held that ingredients of Section 107 IPC are also not satisfied. In that view, the