IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: 07.04.2026 RAHUL KAPOOR .....Petitioner Versus STATE OF PUNJAB .....Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE KIRTI SINGH Present: Mr. Satnam Singh Thakur, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Yadwinder Singh, AAG, Punjab.

Mr. Arjunveer Sharma, Advocate for the complainant.

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KIRTI SINGH, J. (ORAL)

1. The jurisdiction of this Court under Section 438 Cr.P.C. has been invoked for grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioner in case FIR No.67 dated 01.08.2025 under Sections 316(2) and 85 of BNS, registered at Police Station Women, District Ludhiana.

2. The contents of the FIR are reproduced hereunder:

“Sir, it is requested that I, xxxx, wife of Rahul Kapoor, currently resident of House No. 3876, Street No. 12, New Madhopuri, Ludhiana, make the following application to you That the marriage of the applicant with accused No. 1 took place with great pomp and show with Hindu rituals on 28-07-2021 at Malhotra Resort, Ludhiana. It was an arranged marriage and the parents of the applicant had paid all the above-mentioned fees. The marriage was arranged as per the demand of the accused and the bride, jewellery etc. were given as per the demand of the accused. Apart from this, gifts were also given to the relatives of the native and the accused and the bride's Instead of giving it to her, she kept it in her illegal possession. 4. That everything was fine for about a week after the wedding, but later all the accused started talking among themselves and started taunting the applicant that the applicant's parents did not marry her according to her status and whatever goods they gave in dowry were of poor quality and no car was given in the wedding, which is the custom of giving a car in dowry these days. The applicant kept quiet after hearing all this because she did not want to spoil her marital home, but the accused took advantage of the situation and the accused started beating and abusing her every day. 5. That the accused No.4 and 5 interfered a lot in the married life of the applicant and whenever they used to come to my in-laws' house, they used to provoke my husband accused No. 1 and the rest of the accused that in which poor house did you get married, if you had married according to our rules, you would have got a lot of dowry and a car, due to which the accused Nos. 1 to 3 started hating me and started treating me like a slave. My husband started telling me clearly that he needed a servant in the house, which was fulfilled when the applicant came to the house. Because of such things, the accused No. 1 did not even pay me expenses and used to torture me mentally and physically. 6. That initially I did not tell my parents anything, but when accused atrocities. increased, I told the whole story to my parents, who came many times and explained to my in-laws, but accused did not change his behavior, rather accused number 2 and 3 used to use dirty words towards my parents and after quarreling with me, all three of them used to beat me. 7. That when I got pregnant, I told my mother-in-law and she demanded a boy from me. But when the applicant had a girl child, all the accused got angry and started beating the applicant and made the applicant's life like hell. Accused demanded jewellery, cash and a car from the applicant's parents as a gift, and in which he gave me a gold set and a gold chain and gold earrings to the child. Apart from this, he gave 51 thousand in cash to the child and accused. But this did not satisfy his greed and he also started demanding a car from the applicant every day. My parents held a panchayat several times and requested the accused to end the greed of dowry, but accused number 4 and 5 never let the quarrel in the house end and they started inciting my husband accused number 1 to divorce me and to solemnize second marriage. Accused number 2 who used to keep a wrong eye on the applicant and used to tease and make gestures and when the applicant stopped him