The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement of prima facie material to prove the offence under Section 498A of IPC, the definition of 'cruelty', and the duty to prevent abuse of the process of the court.

JUDGMENT :

(Anuja Prabhudessai, J.).

1. With the consent of parties, heard finally at the stage of admission.

2. This is an application under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. to quash Crime No. 100 of 2019 dated 29.03.2019 registered with Gandhinagar Police Station, Kolhapur for offences punishable under Section 498A, 323, 504, 506 r/w. 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

3. The aforesaid crime was registered pursuant to the FIR lodged by respondent no.2. The marriage of respondent no.2 and applicant no.1 was solemnized in the year 2001. The applicant and respondent no.2 have a son from the said wedlock. Respondent no.2 left the matrimonial home in the year 2014, She lodged the FIR in the year 2019 alleging that since about six months from the date of her marriage her husband and his family members had subjected her to physical and mental cruelty. She has also alleged that her husband had forced her to get a car and cash of Rs.1 Lakh from her parents, and had abused and assaulted her for not meeting the unlawful demand. She has stated that she was thrown out of the house in the year 2014 at 2.00 a.m. Since then, she is residing at her parental home. It is on the basis of these allegations that the aforesaid crime came to be registered.

4. Shri Gole, learned Counsel for the applicant states that there is considerable delay in lodging the FIR. He submits that the respondent left the house in the year 2014. Hence applicant no.1 filed divorce proceedings in December 2015. He submits that pursuant to the order passed by the Family Court, Kolhapur, as well as by the learned JMFC, in 125 proceeding, the applicant has been paying maintenance to respondent no.2 as well as to the child. He submits that the respondent has been lodging several complaints before various authorities. On 26.12.2018 she had lodged a similar complaint before the Dy. Superintent of Police, Kolhapur by suppressing the fact that several proceedings were pending between the parties. Learned Counsel for the petitioner further states that the divorce decree has been granted in the month of January 2024. He has further stated that on 5.1.2019 the respondent no.2 came to his shop and created ruckus, for which applicant no.1 had lodged a N.C. Complaint. He submits that she has roped the entire family of the applicant on the basis of omnibus allegations. He submits that the allegations in the FIR even if accepted in their entirety, the same do not disclose commission of any cognizable offence.

5. Per contra, learned Counsel for the respondent submits that respondent no.2 was thrown out of the house in the year 2014. She further submits that the applicant did not have any intention to take back respondent no.2, which is evident from the fact that he had filed a suit for divorce within a few months from the date of issuing notice for restitution of conjugal rights. She further submits that the allegations in the FIR disclose an offence under Section 498A, which is a serious offence.

6. We have perused the records and considered the submissions advanced by the learned Counsel for the respective parties.

7. In the instant case, the records reveal that the marriage of petitioner no.1 and respondent no.2 was solemnized in the year 2001. It is not in dispute that the respondent no.2 is living in her parental home since the year 2014. The first information report is lodged in the year 2019 in respect of the alleged incidents from 2001 to 2014. In Hasmukhlal D. Vora & Anr. vs. The State of Tamil Nadu 2022 SCC Online SC 1732, the Apex Court has observed that :

“26. While inordinate delay in itself may not be ground for quashing of a criminal compliant, in such cases, unexplained inordinate delay o such length must be taken into consideration as a very crucial factor as grounds for quashing a criminal complaint.

27. While this court does not expect a full-blown investigtion at the stage of a criminal complaint, however, in such cases where the accused has been subject to the anxiety of a potential i