IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Criminal Misc. Application(C482) No.261 of 2005 1. Smt. Khairunnisa, W/o Ahasan Khan 2. Arshad Khan, S/o Allam Khan 4. Javed Khan, S/o Aslam Khan All R/o Munshi Nagar, P.W. Izzatnagar Distric Bareilly, U.P. ………..…Petitioners Versus 1. State of Uttaranchal (Uttarakhand) 2. Faraha Khan, D/o Shakir Khan R/o Ujala Nagar Uttar Ujala P.S. Kotwali Haldwani District Nainital ....……Opposite parties Shri Arvind Vashisth, Advocate, present for the petitioners. Shri B.S. Parihar, Advocate, present for the State Hon’ble Prafulla C. Pant, J. By means of this petition moved under section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 (for short Cr.P.C.), the petitioners have sought quashing of the proceedings of criminal case -2- No.4328 of 2004, State vs. Khairunnisa, relating to offences punishable under section 498A, and 323 I.P.C., and one punishable under section ¾ Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, P.S. Haldwani, pending in the court of Judicial Magistrate, Haldwani. 2. Heard learned counsel and perused affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioner and counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent no.2. 3. Brief facts of the case are that respondent no.2 Faraha Khan got married to Amjad Khan on 20.11.2003. The petitioner no. 1 Khairunnisa is mother-in-law of respondent no.2. Petitioner no.2 Arshad Khan and Petitioner no.3 Javed Khan are brothers-in-law (DEVARS) of the respondent no.2/ complainant. The respondent no.2 Faraha lodged first information report on 12.05.2004, against her husband Amjad Khan (since deceased), father-in- law Ahasan Khan (since deceased), mother-in-law Smt. Khairunnisa (petitioner no.1), brother-in-law Arshad Khan (petitioner no.2) ,and another brother-in-law Javed Khan (petitioner no.3) whichwas registered as crime no. 2348 of 2004, at -3- police station Haldwani, relating to offences punishable under section 498A, and 506 IPC and one punishable under section ¾ of Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. In said FIR (copy of which is Annexure-3 to the petition) it is alleged that complainant's husband, father-in-law, mother-in- law, and brothers-in-law demanded dowry of rupees one lac and ousted her from her house for non fulfillment of demand of dowry. After investigation, police submitted charge sheet (Ex. A5 to the petition) before the court of Judicial Magistrate, Haldwani, for trial of accused Khairunnisa, Arshad, and Javed for their trial in respect of charge of offences punishable under section 498A, 323 IPC and one punishable under section ¾ of Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The petitioners have challenged the summoning order passed on the aforesaid sheet and the criminal proceedings initiated thereon. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioners drew attention of this Court that during investigation of the crime, Amjad Khan (husband of the respondent no.2) died in police custody. It is further pointed out that Ahasan Khan, father-in-law of the complainant -4- has also expired of heart-attack when police went to arrest him. The said fact relating to death of husband and father-in-law are not denied in the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent no.2. In the above circumstances, it appears to be abuse of process of law to prosecute the petitioners in the criminal case particularly when there is no specific role assigned to any of the petitioners as to which out of them had made demand of dowry or committed cruelty, nor is it clear what was the cruelty committed by the present petitioner. 5. For the reasons as discussed above, the proceedings of criminal complaint no. 4328 of 2004 State vs. Khairunisha and others, relating to offences punishable under section 498A, 323 IPC and one punishable under section ¾ of Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, pending in the court of Judicial Magistrate, Haldwani, are hereby quashed. The petition accordingly stands allowed. Registry is directed to inform the court concerned. (Prafulla C. Pant, J) Dt. 19.08.2010 Parul