Priyanka Mishra & Ors. vs The State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr.

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

8 May 2023

Case No.

Criminal Appeal No.1545 of 2023

Result

Allowed

Bench

Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Ahsanuddin Amanullah

Citation

[2023] 5 S.C.R. 1152 : 2023 INSC 729

Headnote

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s.482 – Quashing of FIR – Complaint filed by Respondent no.2-wife against appellants (sister-in-law, mother-in-law and father-in-law) and her husband for offences punishable u/s.498-A and s.34, IPC and s.4, Dowry Prohibition Act – Petition filed by appellants u/s.482 for quashing, dismissed – On appeal, held: FIR in question as far as appellants are concerned, is an abuse of the process of the Court – Respondent No.2 resided for less than three weeks in the matrimonial home from the date the marriage was solemnised – She then lived with her husband at Hyderabad for some time and, finally moved to London and then Sweden – Subsequently, upon returning to India, she filed the criminal case in question – While living with her husband in Sweden, respondent no. 2 had filed a divorce petition, hence, there was no occasion per se for her after coming from Sweden to visit the matrimonial home, much less reside there – Moreover, the husband of Respondent No.2 having emailed a complaint to the Superintendent of Police, 3 days prior to the wife lodging her complaint, with regard to threat received from Respondent No.2 to implicate him and his family members, is clearly indicative that the charges, against the appellants were an afterthought – Impugned judgment set aside – FIR quashed qua the appellants – Penal Code, 1860 – ss.498-A, 34 – Dowry Prohibition Act – s.4.

Kahkashan Kausar alias Sonam v State of Bihar (2022)

6 SCC 599 – relied on.

Rajesh Sharma v State of Uttar Pradesh (2018) 10 SCC

472 : [2017] 9 SCR 529; State of Haryana v Bhajan Lal 1992 Suppl. (1) SCC 335 : [1990] 3 Suppl. SCR 259; Pawan Kumar v State of Haryana (1998) 3 SCC

309 : [1998] 1 SCR 746; Mahendra K C v State of Karnataka (2022) 2 SCC 129; Central Bureau of Investigation v A Ravishankar Prasad (2009) 6 SCC

351 : [2009] 9 SCR 1025; S Mahaboob Basha v State of Karnataka (2014) 10 SCC 244 : [2014] 13 SCR 1266; Rupali Devi v State of Uttar Pradesh (2019) 5 SCC 384 : [2019] 6 SCR 577 – referred to.

The following Order of the Court was passed by AHSANUDDIN AMANULLAH, J. Heard learned counsel for the parties. 2. Leave granted. 3. The present Appeal is directed against the Final Judgment and Order dated 30.04.2019 (hereinafter referred to as the “Impugned Judgment”) passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Bench at Gwalior (hereinafter referred to as the “High Court”) in Miscellaneous Criminal Case No. 6054 of 2019 by which the petition filed by the appellants under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the “Code”) praying to quash First Info

View Subscription Plans →