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ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT AT TELANGANA
U. Durga Prasad Rao, J.
Mohd. Rafiuddin Ahmed and others – Petitioners
Versus
State of Telangana and another – Respondents
Crl. P. No. 1036 of 2015
Decided On : 2-6-2015
Criminal Law – Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – Section 482 – Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Section 498-A r/w 34 – Cruelty – Seeking to quash the proceedings – Husband of de facto complainant – A2 and A3 are parents of A.1 private complaint filed by de facto complainant – Prosecution case is that the marriage between A.1 and the defacto complainant took place was doing Air Ticketing Job in K.S.A (Kingdom Saudi Arabia). The parents of complainant presented Rs. 1,00,000/- cash as dowry, 8 Tolas of Gold ornaments and huge Jahez Articles including Electronic Gadgets at the time of marriage and the Accused gave 15 Tolas of Gold ornaments to the complainant complainant joined the society of her husband and all the accused were residing jointly at Hyderabad. Within short time after the marriage, all the accused started ill-treating her as they were not satisfied with the dowry given by the parents of complainant. On 20.02.2005, A.1 left to K.S.A in order to join his duty by leaving the complainant at his residence with A.2 and A.3. On 01.10.2005, the complainant was blessed with a female child and the accused started abusing and ill-treating her for giving birth to female child and demanded to deposit Rs. 1,00,000/- in the name of newly born baby –Held, From the above discussion it is clear that what is relevant to establish offence under section 498A IPC is the marital status of the accused at the time of commission of offence expression, being the husband used in the section relates to the marital status of the accused at the time of commission of the offence and not such status at the time of filing of complaint. Emphasis is seen given in section 498A IPC to the marital status of the accused at the time of commission of offence and not to what it was at the time of filing the complaint. In such circumstances, offence under section 498A IPC will lie against a person irrespective of whether he was the husband or former husband of a woman at the time of filing of complaint. If a former husband had committed the offence in his capacity as the husband during subsistence of his marriage with the victim, he can be proceeded against for offence under section 498A IPC reading of section 498A IPC further reveals that the expression used in section 498A IPC to denote the person aggrieved by the offence is significantly, woman and not wife. This in a way, gives an indication that there is no bar for a woman- whether she be the wife or the divorced wife- to proceed against the accused/husband for offence under section 498A IPC if she is aggrieved by commission of such offence. But in such case, it has to be established that the offence was committed by the accused while marriage between the accused and victim was in existence. It is not necessary that the victim should continue to be the wife of the accused at the time of filing of complaint also – Criminal Petition is dismissed
U. Durga Prasad Rao, J. –
In this petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C., petitioners/A.1 to A.3 seek to quash the proceedings in C.C.No.342 of 2010 on the file of XV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Nampally, Hyderabad.
2. A1 is the husband of de facto complainant. A2 and A3 are parents of A.1.
3. The private complaint filed by de facto complainant on 13.07.2009 was forwarded by learned XIII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad to the Women P.S Charminar South Zone, Hyderabad, which was registered as Crime No.172/2009 for the offences under Section 498-A r/w 34 IPC and after investigation charge sheet was laid against A1 to A3 and the learned XV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Nampally, Hyderabad took cognizance of the case and registered as C.C.No.342 of 2010.
4. The prosecution case is that the marriage between A.1 and the defacto complainant took place on 10.12.2004. A.1 was doing Air Ticketing Job in K.S.A (Kingdom Saudi Arabia). The parents of complainant presented Rs. 1,00,000/- cash as dowry, 8 Tolas of Gold ornaments and huge Jahez Articles including Electronic Gadgets at the time of marriage and the Accused gave 15 Tolas of Gold ornaments to the complainant towards Chadawa articles. The defacto complainant joined the society of her husband and all the accused were residing jointly at Hyderabad. Within short time after the marriage, all the accused started ill-treating her as they were not satisfied with the dowry given by the parents of complainant. On 20.02.2005, A.1 left to K.S.A in order to join his duty by leaving the complainant at his residence with A.2 and A.3. On 01.10.2005, the complainant was blessed with a female child and the accused started abusing and ill-treating her for giving birth to female child and demanded to deposit Rs. 1,00,000/- in the name of newly born baby. Accused demanded Rs. 1,00,000/- as additional dowry for arrangement of Visa to complainant and accordingly, the parents of complainant paid Rs. 1,00,000/- to A.2 and A.3, upon which A.1 accommodated visa to complainant and her daughter and both went to K.S.A on 11.08.2006 but the A.1 did not look after them properly and did not provide minimum necessities and due to his negligence, she became sick. A.1 was having illegal contacts with other ladies at abroad and when she objected the same, A.1 to A.3 abused her and threatened her with dire consequences. In those circumstances, A.1 sent her to India on 16.03.2007 to live in her in-laws' house. Thereafter the complainant again went to KSA in the month of May, 2007 and conceived pregnancy and came to India on 18.12.2007 and was again blessed with a female child on 17.01.2008 and on knowing it, A.1 to A.3 made her life miserable and tortured her and instigated A.1 to give Divorce to her. At the intervention of elders and expenses of her parents, the complainant again went to KSA with her two daughters in May, 2008 but the accused did not change their attitude.
4a) While so, In November, 2008, Complainant, her children and A.1 returned to India and started living in her in-laws' house and the accused demanded additional dowry of Rs. 1,00,000/- and forcibly snatched all her gold ornaments and Chadawa Articles. Accused accommodated a separate house for complainant nearby their house and the complainant was blessed with a male child in the month of March, 2009. Accused used to visit her house and they tried to kill her by opening the gas pipe in the kitchen but she rescued herself by sensing foul smell of gas leakage. The parents of complainant paid Rs. 25,000/- to A.1 but he was not satisfied and demanded remaining amount of Rs. 75,000/- and harassed her physically and mentally for additional dowry. On 24.03.2009, A.2 and A.3 visited the house of complainant and demanded additional dowry of Rs. 75,000/- and drove her out of the house with minor children and threatened her not to comeback until their demand was fulfilled otherwise they would see the end of c
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