THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY CRIMINAL PETITION NO.5789 OF 2008 Date: 25th March, 2011 Between: M.Srinivasa Rao …..Petitioner And The State of Andhra Pradesh, through Station House Officer, Pedapadu Police Station, East Godavari District, rep. by Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad and another. …..Respondents THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY CRIMINAL PETITION NO.5789 OF 2008 ORDER: This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash proceedings in Crime No.29 of 2008 under Sections 498-A, 448, 509, 323, 386 R/w.511 R/w.34 of IPC on the file of Peddapadu Police Station, East Godavari District. The petitioner is the 4th accused in the Crime. The accused 2 to 4 in the case are the father, brother and friend of the 1st accused therein respectively. The facts which led to the registration of the case are follows: The 1st accused married the de facto complainant in the case about eight years ago and at that time, the parents of the de facto complainant gave Rs.15,00,000/- towards dowry apart from 120 Kasula gold. Later, the 1st accused used to harass the de facto complainant to bring additional dowry and the 2nd accused in the case also used to take part in that. On 2-2-2008 during mid-night, the 4th accused along with the other accused, went to the house of de facto complainant and threatened her to sign on papers for the purpose of getting mutual divorce and thereafter, they also pulled her jacket and saree and kicked her on chest and abused her in filthy language. It is the contention of learned Counsel for the petitioner/4th accused that there is no material to proceed against the petitioner/4th accused with reference to the said offence and in any case, he cannot be prosecuted for the offence punishable under Section 498-A IPC because he is not the husband of the de facto complainant and continuance of the case against him is nothing but harassing him and hence the petition may be allowed. It is also his contention that because the allegations are false, a direction may be given to the concerned police not to arrest him in the matter and also to the concerned Magistrate not to insist upon his attendance before the Court. It is to be considered whether sufficient material is there to quash the proceedings so far as the petitioner/4th accused is concerned. Having gone through the record, it is clear that there is record supporting the allegations of intimidating the de facto complainant and obtaining her signatures for the purpose of obtaining divorce by mutual consent before a Court of law and also manhandling her and so on. Therefore, the proceedings cannot be quashed so far as the petitioner/4th accused is concerned. Further with regard to question of application of 498-A IPC, the police have to examine the provisions incorporated therein and further had to proceed properly and file the corresponding charge sheet. With the above observations, the petition is dismissed permitting the petitioner/4th accused to appear before the trial Court at the time of trial of the case only. _____________________________________ JUSTICE G.KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY 25th March, 2011 Tjmr THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY CRIMINAL PETITION NO.5789 OF 2008 DATE: 25th March, 2011 TJMR