2026:CGHC:4895-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRMP No. 1450 of 2021

1 - Bhagwat Prasad Sinha S/o Late Jeevan Lal Sinha Aged About 25 Years R/o Village Satmara, P. S. Ranchirai, District Balod Chhattisgarh

2 - Teerath Ram Sinha Bharat Lal Sinha Aged About 34 Years R/o Village Satmara, P. S. Ranchirai, District Balod Chhattisgarh

3 - Dropati Bai Sinha W/o Late Jeevan Lal Sinha Aged About 53 Years R/o Village Satmara, P. S. Ranchirai, District Balod Chhattisgarh ... Petitioners versus

1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, P. S. Patan, District Durg Chhattisgarh

2 - Hema Sinha W/o Bhagwat Prasad Sinha Aged About 25 Years R/o Tamradwaj Sinha, R/o Tarighat, Patan, District Durg Chhattisgarh ... Respondents (Cause title taken from Case Information System)

For Petitioners : Mr. S.B. Pandey, Advocate For Respondent No.1/State : Mr. Nitansh Jaiswal, Deputy Govt.

Advocate Hon'ble Shr i Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri R avindra Kumar Agrawal, Judge

Order on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha, C.J.

VED PRAKASH 29/01/2026 DEWANGAN

VED PRAKASH

DEWANGAN 1. Heard Mr. S.B. Pandey, learned counsel for the petitioners as well as

Date: 2026.01.30

19:07:35 +0530

Mr. Nitansh Jaiswal, Deputy Govt. Advocate, learned counsel appearing for respondent No.2.

2. Learned counsel appearing for the State submits that, in compliance with the Court’s order dated 15.01.2026, respondent No. 2 has been apprised of the pendency of the present petition. The said notice was served upon respondent No. 2 on 19.01.2026. It is further submitted that the earlier counsel, Mr. Vineet Kumar Pandey, has since expired. When the matter was taken up, respondent No. 2 was not present despite service of notice. In view of the above, this Court deems it fit to proceed to hear the matter on merits.

3. The present petition has been filed by the petitioners being aggrieved by the final report/charge-sheet filed under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on 03.08.2021 before the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Patan, District Durg (C.G.), arising out of FIR No. 81/2021 registered at Police Station Patan, District Durg (C.G.), for offences punishable under Sections 498-A, 377, 406, 323, 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 & 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, seeking quashment of the said charge-sheet and the consequential criminal proceedings.

4. The petitioners have filed the present petition with the following prayer:-

“It is therefore prayed that this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to Quash the entire charge sheet and the consequent criminal case pending before the learned J.M.F.C. Patan, District Durg, (C.G.) and the petitioners may kindly be set free, in the interest of justice.”

5. The facts of the case in brief are that, the respondent No.2/

complainant and petitioner No.1 became acquainted with each other through Facebook in the year 2018 and subsequently solemnized their marriage on 10.02.2019. Petitioner No.1 is the husband of the complainant, petitioner No.2 is the maternal uncle-in-law and petitioner No.3 is the mother-in-law of the complainant. It is alleged that initially the couple resided peacefully for a short period of about 10–15 days, whereafter matrimonial discord arose. Allegations of mental and physical cruelty, dowry demand, misappropriation of articles and forceful unnatural physical relations were levelled, pursuant to which FIR No. 81/2021 was registered at Police Station Patan and, after investigation, the charge-sheet dated 03.08.2021 was filed before the learned JMFC, Patan.

6. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that petitioner No.1 is a government servant employed in the police force. The marriage between petitioner No.1 and respondent No.2 was solemnized on 10.02.2019 and after about seven months of marriage, respondent No.2 left the matrimonial home and started residing at her parental house, after which the relationship between the parties became irretrievably strained. It is further submitt