Suppression of material facts by a litigant seeking relief under the DV Act constitutes an abuse of process, warranting dismissal of the application.

JUDGMENT :

Rule returnable forthwith. Learned APP waives service of notice of rule for and on behalf of respondent-State.

1. By invoking inherent powers of this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C., the applicants have preferred this application thereby they seek to quashing of CRMA J No.6081 of 2017 filed by the second respondent claiming various reliefs under the provisions of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as “DV Act”).

2. This Court has heard learned counsel Mr. T.P. Raval with Mr. Bhargav Mehta appearing for and on behalf of the applicants.

3. The second respondent Ms. Nikita Tomar who has filed the questioned application, despite service of notice, she has chosen not to contest the application and remained absent throughout the proceedings.

4. Brief facts giving rise to file the present application are that, the applicants are husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and uncle-in-law of the second respondent and they are permanent resident of Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The marriage of the respondent no.2 with applicant Ankitsingh Rajawat was solemnized on 08.02.2015 and after marriage, she went to her matrimonial home at Agra, State of U.P. According to case of the second respondent, the sufficient dowry in the form of household items and sum of Rs.60 lacs being given at the time of marriage. In the month of February, 2015, when the husband wife went to Dubai for honeymoon, dispute arose there in relation to non-maintaining of physical relationship and she was threatened by the husband that he will give divorce. On arrival by them at Ahmedabad, the husband and his relatives demanded a house and bike for brother-in-law and to meet with the said demand, the father has purchased the flat in the area of Chandkheda, Ahmedabad in the name of mother-in-law i.e. applicant Sunitasingh Rajawat and gave cash amount of Rs.50,000/- to purchase the bike. Despite sufficient dowry as demanded which had been given at the time of marriage and after marriage, the husband and in-laws harassed her mentally and physically and hurled abusive and tortured her on petty issues of household work. It is further case of the second respondent that, she suffered the mental and physical harassment to save the marriage. After some time, the husband and in-laws again started to harass her and demanded a bungalow and the bike for husband and in order to save the marriage life of daughter, the father of the wife bought a bungalow in Gandhinagar and Bullet bike for husband. The sister-in-law was used to send whatsapp messages to the second respondent and portrayed her that she is not a good wife. In such circumstances, the second respondent has suffered a lot and finally, she constrained to lodge a criminal complaint under Section 498A of the IPC and for getting various reliefs under the provisions of DV Act, filed an application being CRMA J No.6081 of 2017 which is pending on the file of Court No3, Metropolitan Magistrate at Ahmedabad.

5. Dissatisfied with the issue of summons by the court, the applicants has preferred the present application, inter alia, stating that, the proceedings would amount of abuse of process of law and court as in March-2017, the matrimonial dispute was compromised and as per the terms and conditions, Rs.20 lacs being paid by the husband and handed over all the ornaments, household items and other things given at the time of marriage as well as after marriage. Thus, the very material facts of compromise being suppressed before the trial court and on this count, the proceedings require to be quashed. On merits, it has been contended that, the uncontroverted allegations made in the application and evidence in support of the same, do not make out a case against the applicants.

6. Mr. Tapaswi Raval, learned counsel appearing for and on behalf of the applicants drew attention of this Court to the copy of compromise, bank statement and the xerox copies of cheques with list of dowry items prod