IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT GWALIOR BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE MILIND RAMESH PHADKE MISC. CRIMINAL CASE No. 32317 of 2023 SAUMITRA GUJRATI AND OTHERS Versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS Appearance:

Shri Manas Dubey - Advocate for the petitioner.

Ms Yashodhara Uniya P L appearing on behalf of Advocate General.

Reserved on : 19.11.2025 Pronounced on : 8/12/2025 This petition having been heard and reserved for orders, Hon’ble Shri Justice Milind Ramesh Phadke, Judge pronounced the following:

ORDER This petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. has been filed by the petitioners for quashing of the FIR dated 22.5.2023 registered at Crime No.0138/2023 at Police Station Mahila Thana, Gwalior for offence punishable under Sections 498-A, 294, 506, 34 of IPC and section 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act and all the consequential proceedings emanating therefrom.

2. The short facts of the case are that complainant/respondent No.2 lodged an FIR on 22.05.2023 against the petitioners. She stated that her marriage was solemnized according to Hindu customs on 07.12.2021 with Saumitra Gujrati at Thorat Palace, Gwalior. At the time of marriage, her parents gave dowry, including ₹3,00,000 in cash, gold and silver ornaments, and household articles. According to the complainant, she was treated well only for a few days after the marriage. Thereafter, her husband petitioner no.1 and her mother-in-law petitioner no.2 expressed dissatisfaction with the dowry and started harassing her both mentally and physically, demanding an additional ₹5,00,000. She alleged that on 06.01.2023, her husband and mother-in-law assaulted her and again demanded ₹5,00,000. She then filed a complaint at Mahila Thana, Padav, Gwalior, where mediation took place, and she returned to her matrimonial home. However, on 28.01.2023, she was again beaten and thrown out of the house. She then went to her parents’ home at Sikander Kampoo, Gwalior. Subsequently, mediation sessions were held at Mahila Thana on 31.03.2023, 07.04.2023, and 19.05.2023, but no settlement was reached. On the basis of the said complaint, FIR was registered against the petitioners.

3. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioners that the allegations levelled against the present petitioners are false. It is also pertinent to mention here that the allegations leveled by the respondent no.2 are completely omnibus in nature and no specific allegation has been made against anyone. It is further submitted that the present FIR has been filed just to harass the family members of matrimonial side and to extort the money from them under the garb of present FIR, on the basis of a completely cooked up story and from bare reading of FIR, it can be deduced that no specific allegation had been made against any member only omnibus allegations have been made which shows that the aforesaid FIR was registered with the ulterior motive. It is further submitted that the FIR (Annexure P/1) is completely false and fabricated. No such incident ever took place, and this will become clear during the investigation. The complainant had earlier lodged an FIR on 28.01.2023 at Crime No. 36/2023 under Sections 377, 323, and 506 of the IPC at Police Station University. However, the allegations now made were not mentioned in that FIR. Further, the FIR dated 22.05.2023 refers to an incident on 28.01.2023 but makes no mention of any incident on 27.01.2023. This shows that the complainant has not approached the authorities with clean hands and has deliberately concealed material facts. It is also submitted that the complainant started lodging cases against the petitioners and their family members only after the mediation held on 27.01.2023. This clearly indicates misuse and abuse of the legal process. Therefore, the FIR (Annexure P/1) and all criminal proceedings arising from it, deserve to be quashed.

4. It is further submitted that from the above, it is clear that not only FIR contains vague and omnibus allegations against