Rekha MishraversusThe State of Bihar

          IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                  CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.85396 of 2023
        Arising Out of PS. Case No.-160 Year-2020 Thana- KASIMBAZAR District- Munger
     ======================================================
1.    Rekha Mishra Wife of Sanjeev Mishra Resident of Mohalla Kali Sthan V.D.
      Mishra Road, Patna City, P.S. Chowk, District Patna.
2.   Sanjeev Mishra, Son of Lakshman Ji Mishra @ Lakshman Mishra, Resident
     of Mohalla Kali Sthan V.D. Mishra Road, Patna City, P.S. Chowk, District
     Patna.

                                                                    ... ... Petitioner/s
                                          Versus
1.   The State of Bihar Bihar.
2.   Kumari Arunima Wife of Arun Kumar Mishra and Daughter of Surendra
     Chandra Pathk, Resident of Village Puraniganj, Jamalpur Road, P.s. Kashim
     Bazar, P.O. Munger, P.s Munger, District Munger.

                                            ... ... Opposite Party/s
     ======================================================
     Appearance :
     For the Petitioner/s     :      Mr.Nikhil Kumar Agarwal, Advocate
                                     Mr.Aditi Hansaria, Advocate
                                     Mr.Keshav Bharadwaj, Advocate
     For the Opposite Party/s :      Mr.Chandra Sen Prasad Singh,APP
     For the Informant        :      Mr.Rajesh Kumar Dubey, Advocate
     ======================================================
     CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANSUL
                     ORAL JUDGMENT
      Date : 23-06-2026

                      Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned

     Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.

                  2. This application has been filed under Section 528 of

     the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) read with

     the corresponding saving provisions, seeking quashing of the

     cognizance order dated 14.09.2020 passed by the learned Sub-

     Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Munger in Kasim Bazar P.S. Case

     No. 160 of 2020, whereby cognizance was taken under Sections

     341, 323, 379, 498A read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.85396 of 2023 dt.23-06-2026
                                            2/5




       and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 against

       the petitioners and others.

                    3. The petitioners are the nanad (sister-in-law) and

       nandoi (husband of the sister-in-law) of the informant, Opposite

       Party No. 2. Petitioner No. 1, Rekha Mishra, is a practicing

       Advocate at the Civil Court, Patna City since 1990, and petitioner

       No. 2, Sanjeev Mishra, is her husband. The records would show

       that both petitioners have been residing at Mohalla Kali Sthan,

       V.D. Mishra Road, Patna City, which admittedly is approximately

       17 kilometres away from the matrimonial home of the informant.

       It has come out in the petition, and is an admitted situation, that

       the petitioners had not visited the matrimonial home of the

       informant since as far back as 1998. They maintain an entirely

       separate mess and household. The FIR itself records that after

       certain family interventions, the nanad and nandoi left and were

       residing on rent nearby, though it is stated they continued visiting.

       The prosecution story, taken at its face value, thus concedes the

       fact of separate living.

                    4. The informant's written report dated 01.05.2020,

       which forms the basis of Kasim Bazar P.S. Case No. 160 of 2020

       registered on 22.06.2020, alleges that after her marriage on

       06.05.2007 with Arun Kumar Mishra, her in-laws, including the
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.85396 of 2023 dt.23-06-2026
                                            3/5




       petitioners herein, subjected her to torture and cruelty in various

       ways. The allegations against the petitioners in the FIR and the

       charge sheet are that the nanad and nandoi engaged in

       womanising, that the nanad was like a call girl, and that they aided

       and abetted in the general atmosphere of harassment. The husband

       of the informant died on 27.04.2020, and the written report was

       lodged a mere four days thereafter. The charge sheet bearing No.

       177/2020 dated 31.07.2020 was submitted against eight accused

       persons including the petitioners.

                    5. The records would show that the allegations against

       petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 are entirely general and omnibus in

       character, bereft of any specific act attributed to either of them

       with reference to date, time or circumstance. The nanad and

       nandoi are sought to be roped in on the strength of bald, sweeping

       and morally coloured assertions, such as the nanad being of

       questionable character and the two of them engaging in

       womanising, which do not constitute any ingredient of the

       offences alleged and are plainly absurd. It is an admitted situation

       that the petitioners have been residing separately, at Patna City,

       approximately 17 kilometres from the matrimonial home, and had

       not visited that home since 1998, a circumstance that appears from

       the prosecution's own case. No specific demand of dowry, no
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.85396 of 2023 dt.23-06-2026
                                            4/5




       individual act of assault, no particular date of harassment is

       attributed to the petitioners anywhere in the FIR or the charge

       sheet. The informant was married in 2007 and the FIR was lodged

       in 2020, thirteen years later, merely four days after her husband's

       death, without any explanation for the silence during his lifetime.

       The law on this aspect is well settled. In Abhishek vs. State of

       Madhya Pradesh reported in [(2023) INSC 779], the Hon'ble

       Supreme Court, in a factually similar situation where the brother-

       in-law of the informant was residing separately and no specific

       role was attributed to him, quashed the proceedings, holding that

       general and omnibus allegations, which do not spell out individual

       culpability with particularity, cannot be permitted to drag accused

       through the rigours of criminal trial. Sister of High Court in Cr.

       Misc. No. 16948 of 2023 and Cr. Misc. No. 19092 of 2023, arising

       from the very same FIR involving the remaining accused, has by a

       considered judgment dated 05.02.2026 quashed the cognizance

       order after noting that the allegations are general and omnibus, that

       the FIR does not mention specific dates or time periods, that the

       petitioners therein lived separately, and that the prosecution

       appears to have been set in motion for extraneous reasons. The

       situation of the present petitioners is, if anything, more remote,

       they having not visited the matrimonial home for over two
             Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.85396 of 2023 dt.23-06-2026
                                                         5/5




                    decades. Allowing the prosecution to continue in these

                    circumstances would amount to an abuse of the process of this

                    Court.

                                 6. In the result, this application is allowed. The

                    cognizance order dated 14.09.2020 passed by the learned Sub-

                    Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Munger in Kasim Bazar P.S. Case

                    No. 160 of 2020 and all proceedings arising therefrom stand

                    quashed insofar as petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 are concerned.

                                 7. Accordingly, the present petition stands allowed.



                                                        (Ansul, J)
abhishekkr/-
AFR/NAFR                NAFR
CAV DATE                NA
Uploading Date          25.06.2026
Transmission Date       25.06.2026