JUDGMENT AND ORDER :

ANIL KUMAR SINHA, J.

1. The present quashing application has been filed for setting aside the order dated 27.09.2023 passed in SC/ST Trial Case No. 162 of 2023 arising out of Garkha P.S. Case No. 298 of 2020, whereby the learned Special Judge, SC/ST Act, Saran at Chapra, has taken cognizance of the offences punishable under Sections 341, 323, 354, 504, 506 read with Section 34 of the I.P.C. and Sections 3 (r)(s)(w) and 3(2)(va) of the SC/ST Act against the appellants.

2. The prosecution case, as per the FIR lodged by the informant, namely Kalawati Devi, is that she resides in the house of late Ramji Singh and she was a caretaker of his farmland and house. In June 2019, Manish Kumar, son of late Ramji Singh, was married with Shalini Sharma/appellant no. 4. After some time, Ankit Sharma and Abhinesh Sharma appellant nos. 1 and 3, who are brothers of Shalini Sharma/appellant no. 4, started visiting the house of late Ramji Singh and abused her, addressing her with her caste name and threatened to throw her belongings out of the house.

3. It has further been alleged that on 29.06.2020, appellants, along with two unknown persons, arrived in a car from their village Baikuntpur, Vaishali. Upon arrival, Shailendra Sharma and Abhinesh Sharma started hurling caste-based abuses and threatened the informant to vacate the house. The informant requested for some time to make alternative arrangements and upon hearing this, appellant nos. 1 to 3 dragged the informant by her hair out on to the road, assaulted her and tore her saree in order to outrage her modesty. When the informant's husband intervened to save her, he was also assaulted by the appellants. The local people gathered at the spot after hearing noise. In the meanwhile, appellant no. 1 took out pistol, pointed it at the informant’s forehead and threatened her to vacate the house failing which she would face dire consequences.

4. On the basis of aforesaid written report, FIR was lodged and after investigation, final form/charge sheet was submitted on 18.10.2022 against the appellants under Sections 341, 323, 354, 504, 506 read with Section 34 of the I.P.C. and Sections 3(r)(s)(w) and 3(2)(va) of the SC/ST Act. Thereafter, cognizance was taken by the learned Special Court on 27.09.2023 under the aforesaid Sections.

5. Mr. Chitranjan Sinha, learned senior counsel for the appellants, argued that the present case has been lodged in abuse of the process of criminal law inasmuch as the appellant no. 4 is wife of the informant's landlord, namely Manish Kumar, and the marriage was solemnized between them on 11.06.2019. After some time, there was marriage dispute between the husband and wife for which appellant no. 4, wife of Manish Kumar, filed a police complaint in Jaipur bearing Mahila P.S. Case No. 08 of 2020 dated 20.01.2020 against her husband, namely Manish Kumar, and his family members under Sections 498A, 406, 323 of the I.P.C., alleging therein torture, assault and harassment for want of dowry.

6. It has further been argued that the appellants are permanent residents of Jaipur, Rajasthan, and not of Vaishali. The appellants for the last several decades have been living in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and even on the alleged date of occurrence, they were in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The address given in the FIR is merely the address of ancestral village of the appellants. The appellants resides and works at Rajasthan and are de-facto residents of Jaipur. The appellant no. 1/Ankit Sharma has studied from the childhood in a school at Jaipur and has passed his 8th Board Pattern Examination 2006 from Jaipur. Thereafter, he passed his matriculation examination from the Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan, in the year 2008, Senior Secondary Examination in 2010 was also from Rajasthan. Thereafter, he was enrolled in the University of Rajasthan and passed Part III Examination in the year 2016. He was granted provisional certificate by the University of Rajasthan on 27.05.2016. The other doc