The court emphasized the application of inherent powers under Section 482, Cr.P.C. to quash a complaint if the allegations are absurd, inherently improbable, or manifestly attended with mala fide or malicious intent.

JUDGMENT :

Manish Choudhury, J.

1. Heard Mr. F. Khan, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. R.J. Baruah, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State of Assam for respondent no. 1 and Mr. M.U. Mahmud, learned counsel appearing for the respondent no. 2-complainant.

2. By this petition preferred under Section 482, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ("Cr.P.C.", in short), the petitioners have prayed for setting aside and quashing of the complaint case, C.R. Case No. 929/2017, presently pending before the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Morigaon, Assam (hereinafter referred to as the learned trial Court, for easy reference).

3. The respondent no. 2-complainant has instituted the complaint case, C.R. No. 929/2017, on 03.10.2017, before the learned trial Court against the 5 (five) petitioners as accused, who all are residents of Rajpur, Police Station - Gobindaganj, District - West Champaran, Bihar alleging, inter-alia, commission of offences under Sections 379/406/427/120B, Indian Penal Code (I.P.C.) in respect of an incident alleged to have occurred at 03-00 p.m. on 02.12.2016 at the house of the complainant.

4. The gist of the allegations in the complaint are that the petitioner no. 1 is the daughter-in-law of the complainant and the wife of Md. Nesar Ansari, listed as witness no. 1 in the complaint. The marriage between the petitioner no. 1 and Md. Nesar Ansari was solemnized socially about 14 months ago as per Islamic rituals. A number of jewelleries and an amount of Rs. 3,85,000/- were presented at the time of marriage ritual. After the marriage, the couple were living peacefully for the initial few months. Md. Nesar Ansari had taken his wife i.e. the petitioner no. 1 a number of times to her paternal house in Bihar and the other 4 (four) accused persons i.e. the petitioner nos. 2 to 4, who are the parents and the brothers of the petitioner no. 1 used to ask Md. Nesar Ansari to stay with them by deserting his family. The petitioner no. 1 had treated her husband with cruelty on provocation of her family members as her husband did not agree with their proposal.

It is alleged that on 02.12.2016, the petitioner nos. 2 to 5 came to the house of the complainant located at Ward No. 3, Morigaon suddenly and on such arrival, the complainant and Md. Nesar Ansari after asking the guests to take rest, went to their business place as they have a clothe shop. As the wife of the complainant, listed witness no. 2 in the complaint, was preparing lunch in the kitchen for the guests, the petitioner nos. 2 to 5 decamped from the house by taking advantage of absence of other family members after stealing an amount of Rs. 3,00,000/-, some valuable clothes worth Rs. 1,10,000/- and some gold jewelleries kept inside the almirah. When the wife of the complainant after preparing lunch, called the daughter-in-law i.e. the petitioner no. 1 she did not get any response. When the wife of the complainant found that nobody was there, she informed the complainant and Md. Nesar Ansari immediately over phone. The complainant and Md. Nesar Ansari thereafter, tried to call the petitioner no. 1 and her father i.e. the petitioner no. 2 but they did not pick up the phones. Later on, their mobile phones were found switched off.

5. It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners that the complaint case is a counter blast to two proceedings instituted by the petitioner no. 1 at prior points of time - (1) Complaint Case being C.R. Case No. 110/2017 instituted in the learned Family Court, Motihari, East Champaran, Bihar; and (2) Complaint Case being C.R. Case No. 627/2017 instituted in the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Motihari, East Champaran, Bihar. The allegations made in the complaint are all false and concocted as the petitioners had never been to Morigaon as the petitioner no. 1 and her husband were residing at Siswa Khada, Bihar after their Marriage. The complaint was filed on 03.10.2017 alleging occurrence of the alleged of