BHUSHAN KUMAR MEENversusSTATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS.

                       [2011) 10 S.C.R. 844

A                   BHUSHAN KUMAR MEEN
                                 v.
                 STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS.
               (Criminal Appeal No.1709 OF 2011)
                      SEPTEMBER 2, 2011
B
    [ALTAMAS KABIR, CYRIAC JOSEPH AND SURINDER
                  SINGH NIJJAR, JJ.]

        CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973:
c
       s. 482 - Petition seeking to quash criminal proceedings
  - Complaint by wife against her husband alleging
  commission of offence punishable uls 498A - Women's Cell
  reporting that nothing had come out from the inquiry ta prove
0 the demand of dowry and issuance of threat - Subsequently,
  FIR registered - Petition of husband seeking to quash the FIR
  dismissed by High Court - Held: From the entire records
  available, it is clear that the complaint made by the wife did
  not make out a prima facie case to go to trial uls.498-A /PC
E - The single Judge of the High Court did not appreciate the
  nature of the on and off relationship between the couple - The
  impugned order of the High Court is set aside and the FIR
  and all proceedings taken on the basis thereof are quashed
  - Penal Code, 1860 - s.498-A.

F     The marriage of the appellant and respondent no. 2
  was solemnized on 27 .11.2004 and the couple went to
  Gajarat where the appellant-husband was employed.
  Subsequently, differences arose between them and the
  wife, respondent no. 2, on 12.5.2006 made a complaint to
G the Senior Superintendent of Police, Patiala (Punjab) that
  a criminal case be registered against the appellant for
  commission of offence punishable uls.498-A IPC. The
  complaint was forwarded to the Women's Cell, which
  reported that nothing had come out from the inquiry to
H                            844
  BHUSHAN KUMAR MEEN v. STATE OF PUNJAB                  845
               AND ORS.

prove the demand of dowry and issuance of threat and            A
the dispute was of a civil nature which did not call for ay
action by the police at that stage. However, subsequently,
when an FIR was registered against the appellant for
offence punishable u/s 498-A IPC, he filed a petition u/s
482 Cr.P.C. seeking to quash the FIR. The High Court            8
dismissed the petition.

    Allowing the appeal filed by the husband, the Court

     HELD: From the entire records available, it is clear
that the complaint made by respondent No.2 does not             C
make out a prima facie case to go to trial u/s 498-A IPC
and appears to have been filed by respondent No.2 based
on misunderstandings between the parties prompting
respondent No.2 to attack the appellant for something
which is likely to have occurred during their stormy            D
marriage. The Single Judge of the High Court did not
appreciate the nature of the on and off relationship
between the appellant and respondent No.2. In such
circumstances, no offence u/s 498-A IPC had been made
out against the appellant. The impugned order of the High       E
Court is set aside and the FIR lodged by respondent No.2
against the appellant, and all the proceedings taken on
the basis thereof, are quashed. [Paras 9-13] [849-B-G]

    CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal            F
No. 1709 of 2011.

    From the Judgment & Order dated 27.8.2008 of the High
Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Misc. No.
13709-M of 2007.
                                                                G
     Vijay K. Aggarwal, Babanjeet Singh, Shekhar Kumar for
the Appellant.

    Gagan Gupta, Tarun Shankar 8., Kuldip Singh, R.K.

                                                                H
    846      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                  [2011) 10 S.C.R.


A Pandey, K.K. Pandey, Mohit Mudgil, H.S. Sandhu for the
  Respondent.

          The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

          ALTAMAS KABIR, J. 1. Leave granted.
B
          2. The appellant, who had all along been appearing in
    person, was represented by counsel, Mr. Vijay K. Aggarwal, at
    the time of final hearing of the appeal, which is directed against
    the judgment and order dated 27.8.2008 passed by the Punjab
c   and Haryana High Court in Crl.M. No.13709 ·of 2007,
    dismissing the appellant's application under Section 482
    Cr.P.C. for quashing the FIR No.9 dated 10.1.2007 of P.S.
    Patiala, filed by his wife, the respondent No.2 herein.

       3. The appellant's marriage was solemnized with the
D respondent No.2 on 27.11.2004 as per Sikh rites. After their
  marriage, 'the couple went to Gujarat where the appellant was
  employed with Patronet L.N.G. Limited in District Bharuch,
  Gujarat, and lived together as husband and wife, though no child
  was born out of the said wedlock. Subsequently, differences
E arose between the appellant and the respondent No.2 which
  resulted in a complaint being made by the respondent No.2 on
  12.5.2006 to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Patiala,
  requesting that a criminal case be registered against the
  appellant under Sections 406 and 498-A IPC. The said
F complaint was forwarded to the Women's Cell in Patiala, which
  made a detailed inquiry into the allegations made by the
  respondent No.2 against the appellant. After such inquiry, the
  Women's Cell came to the conclusion that even in spite of the
  periodical differences between the appellant and the
G respondent No.2, they continued to maintain their relationship
  as husband and wife. From the report it appears that even after
  she left Gujarat, at the instance of her husband she returned to
  Gujarat in January 2006, and, thereafter, they visited Mount Abu,
  Bombay, Shirdi, Udaipur, Jaipur, Delhi and Gandhinagar, and
H both of them even went to Ambala to attend the retirement
  BHUSHAN KUMAR MEEN v. STATE OF PUNJAB                        847
        AND ORS. [ALTAMAS KABIR, J.]

function of her mother-in-law, but after reaching Ambala she left     A
for Patiala instead of going with the appellant to the Zirakpur.
The Women's Cell also found that the respondent No.2 had
great love for her parents and as a result she wanted to stay
with them more often. Even on the question of dowry, it was
found that the entire complaint had been exaggerated and that         B
the respondent No.2 was determined to teach her husband and
his family members a lesson by levelling serious allegations
against them. The ultimate conclusion arrived at by the
Women's Cell was that nothing had come out from the inquiry
to prove the demand of dowry and issuance of threat, and that         C
the dispute was of a civil nature which did not call for any action
by the local police at the said stage.

     4. Subsequently, a further inquiry was held by the
Superintendent of Police, Patiala, who despite taking into
consideration the report filed by the Women's Cell Patiala,           D
came to the conclusion that the respondent No.2 had been
harassed by the appellant and her father-in-law and mother-in-
law for not meeting the demand of dowry and suggested action
to be taken under Sections 406, 498-A IPC and Sections 3 and
4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. However, on receipt of          E
the said report, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Patiala,
met the appellant and the respondent No.2 and was of the view
that the matter did not appear to be a case of demand of dowry
and the allegations needed to be checked again for evidence,
though the ingredients of Section 498-A could be true. The            F
Superintendent of Police, Patiala, was directed to re-verify and
substantiate the evidence.

     5. After further inquiry, the Superintendent of Police, once
again came to the conclusion that the appellant had harassed
the respondent No.2 which merited the registration of a case          G
against the appellant under Section 498-A IPC. Upon the case
being registered, the appellant filed Criminal Misc. No.13709
of 2007 under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing the FIR. The
matter was heard by the learned Single Judge, who, by his order
                                                                      H
    ·848    SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 [2011] 10 S.C.R.


A   dated 27.8.2008, dismissed the application filed by the
    appellant for quashing of the FIR and held that in view of the
    specific allegations contained therein, no ground for quashing
    the same had been made out and the appellant would be at
    liberty to set up the plea in defence at the appropiiate stage of
8   the trial.

        6. Aggrieved by the said order of the learned Single
    Judge, the appellant filed the Special Leave Petition out of
    which the present appeal arises.

C      7. Appearing for the appellant, Mr. Vijay K. Aggarwal,
  learned Advocate, submitted that at every stage the appellant
  had made sincere attempts to make the marriage with the
  respondent No.2 work, but at every stage such efforts of the
  appellant had been resisted. It was submitted that the appellant
o had agreed to live with the respondent No.2 in a house which
  was separate from the house in which his parents lived, since
  it was one of the complaints of the respondent No.2 that he was
  paying more attention to his parents than to her. According to
  the learned counsel appearing for the appellants, all the
E attempts made by the appellant to make the marriage work
  proved to be futile on account of the attitude of the respondent
  No.2, and even the complaint made against him was a fallout
  thereof, although, there was no truth whatsoever in any of the
  allegations made in the FIR.

F         8. On behalf of the respondent No.2 an attempt was made
    to show that the appellant is a person who was only interested
    in harassing the respondent No.2 for bringing dowry. However,
    the said allegations do not bear scrutiny in view of the report
    filed by the Women's Cell, Patiala that the appellant and the
G respondent No.2 had visited various places all over the country
    together, which, according to the learned counsel for the
    appellant, clearly proves that the appellant and the respondent
    No.2 continued to maintain a normal relationship of husband
    and wife despite their moments of disagreement. Coupled with
1-1 the above. is the observation of the Senior Superintendent of
   BHUSHAN KUMAR MEEN v. STATE OF PUNJAB                     849
         AND ORS. [ALTAMAS KABIR, J.]

Police, Patiala, that after meeting the couple he was of the view   A
that the matter did not relate to a dowry offence and that the
dispute appeared to be of a civil nature.

      9. The complaint made by the respondent No.2 doe$ not,
in our view, make out a case under Section 498-A IPC and            B
appears to have been filed by the respondent No.2 based on
misunderstandings between the parties prompting the
respondent No.2 to attack the appellant for something which
is likely to have occurred during their stormy marriage.

     10. In our view, the learned Single Judge of the High Court    C
did not appreciate the nature of the on and off relationship
between the appellant and the respondent No.2, which caused
him to dismiss the appellant's application under Section 482
Cr.P.C. on the ground that there were serious allegations in the
FIR which have been registered against the appellant regarding      D
his alleged cruelty and maltreatment of the respondent No.2 and
even misappropriation by him.

      11. We are unable to agree with the reasoning of the
learned Single Judge, since from the entire records available       E
it is clear that the complaint made by the respondent No.2 did
not make out a prima facie case to go to trial under Section
498-A IPC.

     12. In such circumstances, we are inclined to accept Mr.
Aggarwal's submissions that no offence under Section 498-A          F
IPC had been made out against the appellant and the complaint
was, therefore, liable to be rejected and the FIR was also liable
to be quashed.

     13. The appeal is accordingly allowed. The impugned            G
order of the High Court is set aside and the FIR lodged by the
respondent No.2 against the appellant, and all the proceedings
taken on the basis thereof, are quashed.

R.P.                                           Appeal allowed.
                                                                    H