The main legal point established is that the offence of cheating under Section 417, IPC requires fraudulent or dishonest inducement, and mere breach of promise does not constitute cheating.

JUDGMENT :

This criminal petition under Section 482, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘the Code’ and/or ‘the CrPC’, for short) has been preferred seeking setting aside and quashment of the criminal proceeding of Complaint Case no. C.R. 2059C/2011, presently pending before the Court of learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (Sadar), Kokrajhar (‘the trial court’, for short) and the order dated 27.12.2011 whereby the learned trial court had taken cognizance and issued process against the petitioner to stand the trial for the offence punishable under Section 417, Indian Penal Code (IPC).

2. When the case was listed on 01.06.2020 last, Mr. S. Chauhan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms. S. Jahan, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent no. 1, State of Assam were heard in part. Notice was duly served on the respondent no. 2 and accordingly, the respondent no. 2 had entered appearance through learned engaged counsel. When the matter was taken up on 01.06.2020, none had appeared on behalf of the respondent no. 2 on that occasion. In view of non-representation on behalf of the respondent no. 2 on 01.06.2020, the case was ordered to be posted today so as to give a further opportunity to the respondent no. 2 to represent his case. It was observed that in the event of non-representation on behalf of the respondent no. 2 on the next date, the case would be considered on merit with reference to the materials on record. Today also, none has appeared on behalf of the respondent no. 2 on call. Accordingly, the case is taken up for final disposal.

3. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent no. 2, State of Assam today. I have also perused the materials available in the record of Complaint Case no. C.R. 2059C/2011.

4. The respondent no. 2 as the complainant (hereinafter also referred to as ‘the complainant’, at places, for easy reference) had instituted the complaint before the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kokrajhar on 27.12.2011. On receipt of the said complaint, it was registered and numbered as Complaint Case no. C.R. 2059C/2011. Thereafter, the complaint case was transferred to the Court of learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (Sadar), Kokrajhar for disposal. On receipt of the case record, the learned trial court examined the complainant under Section 200, CrPC. Finding sufficient materials to proceed against the petitioner as the accused (hereinafter also referred to as ‘the accused’, at places, for easy reference) for the offence under Section 417, IPC, process was issued to the accused to stand the trial. Aggrieved by the criminal prosecution instituted against the petitioner as the accused in Complaint Case no. C.R. 2059C/2011 and the order dated 27.12.2011 taking cognizance, this criminal petition has been filed seeking reliefs, as indicated above.

5. In the complaint, the complainant had arrayed 3 (three) persons as accused. The accused-petitioner was arrayed as accused no. 1, whereas the father and the mother of the petitioner were arrayed as accused no. 2 and the accused no. 3 respectively. The trial court, however, did not find sufficient materials to proceed against the accused no. 2 and the accused no. 3. Thus, it is the accused no. 1 i.e. the petitioner against whom process was issued by the learned trial court to stand the trial as the sole accused.

6. The case projected on behalf of the complainant can be stated as follows:

6.1. The complainant is a Class-I Gazetted Government Servant. He stated that he had been in love with the accused for many years and in course of time, good relationship developed between him and the family members of the accused. The accused used to visit the house of the complainant and they developed intimacy to an extent. The parents of the accused came to know about the relationship between the complainant and the accused but they had never raised any objection. During their relationship, th