Order

ORDER PRONOUNCED ON ::: 01/07/2024 ORDER RESERVED ON ::: 16/04/2024 BY THE COURT:-

1. By way of filing the instant Miscellaneous Petition, a challenge has been made to the order dated 12-01-2023, passed by the Learned District and Sessions Judge, Balotra in Sessions Case No.75/2022, whereby the application moved on behalf of the Public Prosecutor under Section 193 r.w. Section 209 of the Cr.P.C has been allowed and while taking cognizance of the offence under Sections 498-A and 304-B r.w. Section 120-B of the IPC, a process has been issued against the petitioners.

2. Bereft of elaborated details, briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the daughter of the complainant, namely Pratibha, was married to one Kuldeep Singh on 14-05-2021 as per Hindu rituals. She died on 05-03-2022 at her matrimonial home under suspicious circumstances. As per the postmortem report dated 05-03-2022, no external or internal injuries were noticed by the Board duly constituted for the purpose of her autopsy. Since there was no apparent cause of death discernible from the circumstances, therefore, the viscera of the deceased were taken and sent for histopathology and chemical examination. Till the receipt of the report, opinion regarding cause of death was deferred.

3. It is the case of the prosecution that the deceased was subjected to maltreatment by her husband, father-in-law, mother- in-law, and the present petitioners, who are married sister-in-laws of the deceased. It is alleged that a demand of Honda Amaze Car was raised from her in-laws. After conducting thorough investigation, charge sheet was filed. As per report under Section 173 Cr.P.C., the deceased used to be treated cruelly by her husband, mother-in-law, and father-in-law on account of demand of dowry. The report further revealing that the husband of the deceased used to remain in an inebriated condition and he was not doing any job. Perhaps, it was the main cause of strife between the spouses. After conducting thorough investigation, the investigating agency concluded that the petitioners Khushbu and Mahak, who are married sister-in-laws of the deceased, had no role in respect of the death of the deceased and therefore they were exonerated from the charges and thus, the charge sheet came to be filed only against three persons i.e., the husband, father-in-law, and mother-in-law of the deceased for offence under Sections 498-A and 304-B of the IPC.

4. After the submission of the charge sheet, an application was moved on behalf of the Public Prosecutor to arraign the present Petitioner also as an accused, which came to be allowed by the order under challenge.

5. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, learned Public Prosecutor, and the counsel for the Complainant and perused the record made available to this court.

6. No doubt, it is unfortunate that the deceased ended her life within a year of her marriage at her matrimonial home. The death occurred other than in normal circumstances and there are allegations that she was subjected to cruelty in connection with demand of dowry. It is not in dispute that after conducting a thorough investigation, the present petitioners Smt. Khushbu and Smt. Mahak, who were married prior to the marriage of the deceased with Kuldeep Singh; were residing at their matrimonial home and their visit to the parents' home was seldom. The fact further emanating from the record that the petitioners used to visit their parents home once in a while. The police report completely exonerated the petitioners from the allegations.

7. The law in this regard is no more res-integra that the other persons who have not been charge-sheeted by the police can also be arraigned as an accused by exercising power under Section 193 of the Cr.P.C., and the landmark judgment passed in the case of Dharampal and Ors. v. State of Haryana (2014) 3 SCC 306 has made a complete enunciation in this regard. Of course, the Sessions Judge has the authority and power to implead the other p