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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

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CASE NO.:

Appeal (crl.) 399 of 2005

PETITIONER:

Savitaben Somabhai Bhatiya

RESPONDENT:

State of Gujarat and Ors.

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 10/03/2005

BENCH:

ARIJIT PASAYAT & S.H. KAPADIA

JUDGMENT:

J U D G M E N T

(Arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 4688 of 2004)

ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.

Leave granted.

A brief reference to the factual position would suffice because

essentially the dispute has to be adjudicated with reference to scope

and ambit of Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in

short the ’Code’).

The case at hand according to appellant is a classic example of

the inadequacies of law in protecting a woman who unwittingly entered

into relationships with a married man.

Factual position as projected by the appellant is as follows:-

Appellant claims that she was married to respondent No.2 some

time in 1994 according to the customary rites and rituals of their

caste. Though initially, the respondent No.2 treated her nicely,

thereafter he started ill-treating her and she was subjected to mental

and physical torture. On enquiry about the reason for such a sudden

change in his behaviour, the