IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CrMisc No 14331 of 2009 1 Dhurb Pd Singh, son of late Ram Nandan Singh 2 Dhiraj Kumar Singh @ Toni, son of Dhurb Pd Singh, residents of Village – Harakh, P S – Begusarai Town, District – Begusarai - Petitioner Versus State of Bihar - Opposite Party ----------- 3 20.08.2009 Petitioner No 1 is the father-in-law and petitioner No 2 is the husband. They apprehend arrest in Complaint Case No 760 C of 2008 instituted under Section 498A of Indian Penal Code and Sections ¾ of Dowry Prohibition Act. The complainant is the wife of petitioner No 2. She states that they were married in the year, 2003. After that for about 2 years, she remained in her maternal home whereafter she was taken to her sasural. Recently, her husband (petitioner No 2) wanted to start work as a contractor and they needed money, as such, she should bring Rs 1 lac and as a non-consequence of non-payment thereof, they beat her up and tried to kill because of which she ran away from her sasural and rescued herself. On behalf of petitioners, Shri Ajay Kumar Thakur submits that the girl in fact is elder to the boy (petitioner No 2). Marriage took place more than 6 years back. The girl on her own showing is 22 years on day. The matriculation certificate of petitioner as issued by the Bihar School Examination Board shows that the petitioner is 23 years old as of date and, as such, at the the time of marriage was not above 17 years. He submits that the marriage was forced upon the family and it is because of that the family members through the lady have been blackmailing his family to accept the marriage. The informant has appeared and filed a counter affidavit in 2 which she has annexed two affidavits purporting to be affidavits sworn by petitioner No 1, the father-in-law and petitioner No 2, the husband. These affidavits were sworn in 2006 that is three years back and three years after the marriage stating that they would not trouble the lady because of non-payment of dowry. I have gone through the complaint. There is not a whisper about this or any prior ill-treatment in the entire complaint. Be that as it may, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the petitioners abovenamed are directed to surrender before the Court below within 4 weeks from today and if they do so, they shall be released on bail on each of them furnishing bonds of Rs 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate, Begusarai in Complaint Case No 760 C of 2008 subject to all conditions as laid down in Section 438 (2) of Criminal Procedure Code. M.E.H./ (Navaniti Prasad Singh)