Nitish Narayan vs The State Of Jharkhand & Anr.

By the Court:-

Heard the parties.

This interlocutory application has been filed with the prayer for early hearing of this criminal miscellaneous petition.

Since, hearing of this criminal miscellaneous petition is taken up today, hence, this interlocutory application is disposed of being infructuous.

Heard the parties.

This Criminal Miscellaneous Petition has been filed invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 528 of B.N.S.S., 2023 with the prayer to quash the entire criminal proceeding including the order dated 11.06.2024 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi in connection with the Complaint Case No. 1304 of 2024 whereby and where under, learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi has found prima facie case for the offence punishable under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code and passed the summoning order; as also to quash the order dated 10.04.2026 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi in connection with the said Complaint Case No. 1304 of 2024 by which the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi rejected the petition filed under Section 245 of Cr.P.C. in Misc. Criminal Application No. 7768 of 2025.

The brief fact of the case is that the opposite party no.2 herein being the complainant filed Complaint Case No. 1304 of 2024 alleging therein that she married the petitioner after coming to know about the petitioner through a matrimonial website. After marriage the petitioner taunted the complainant about her complexion and commented about her introvert personality and also alleged that the complainant is having low I.Q. and poor communication skills and also held the complainant responsible for the disease which the petitioner started suffering from and ultimately the petitioner requested the complainant to stay separately from him; after which the complainant-opposite party no.2 went to her younger sister’s house at Bangalore and subsequently she went to Kolkata to her elder sister’s house, where her parents were also there and ultimately the petitioner did not allow the complainant to return to resume conjugal life with the petitioner and retained the stree dhan property of the complainant worth Rs.35,00,000/- and the petitioner later on filed a suit for divorce in the Family Court, Ranchi wherein, it was mentioned that stree dhan of the opposite party no.2 was returned though in fact, the same was not returned.

On the basis of the complaint, statement of the complainant on solemn affirmation and the statement of the inquiry witnesses, the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi found prima facie case for the offence punishable under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code and passed the summoning order. On 10.04.2026, the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi took up the petition under Section 245 of Cr.P.C. filed by the petitioner and after considering the facts of the case and the law, came to the conclusion that from materials available in the record it cannot be said at this stage that the allegation against the accused person is groundless and dismissed the petition for discharge and fixed the case for framing of charge.

It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that charge has not yet been framed and the case is next fixed to 18.08.2026 for consideration of framing of charge.

Learned counsel for the petitioner relying upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Achin Gupta vs. State of Haryana & Anr. reported in (2025) 3 SCC 756 wherein, in paragraph no. 32 of the said judgment, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India observed that in all cases, were wife complains of harassment or ill-treatment, Section 498A of Indian Penal Code cannot be applied mechanically.

Learned counsel for the petitioner next relied upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Sanjay D. Jain & Ors. vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors. reported in 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2090 and submits that in paragraph no. 9 therein, it has been observed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India that vague and general allegations cannot lead to forming of a prima facie case. It is next submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that even if the entire allegations made against the petitioner are considered to be true in their entirety still, the offence punishable under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code is not made out. Hence, it is submitted that the prayer as prayed for by the petitioner in this criminal miscellaneous petition be allowed.

Learned Public Prosecutor and the learned counsel for the opposite party no.2 on the other hand vehemently opposes the prayer of the petitioner and submits that there is direct and specific allegation against the petitioner of perpetrating cruelty upon the complainant by taunting her about her complexion and passing comments regarding having low I.Q. and lack of communication skills which is sufficient to constitute the offence punishable under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. Hence, it is submitted that this criminal miscellaneous petition being without any merit be dismissed.

Having heard the rival submissions made at the Bar and after carefully going through the materials available in the record, the essential ingredients to constitute the offence punishable under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code are as under :-

It is pertinent at this stage to refer to Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code which reads as under:-

Now coming to the facts of the case, there is no allegation against the explanation (b) of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code in this case; as there is no allegation of any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security. So far as the explanation (a) is concerned, there is no allegation against the petitioner of indulging in any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the complainant to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health of the complainant. The only allegation is that the petitioner taunted the complainant about her complexion and commented about her low I.Q. and poor communication skills and this in the considered opinion of this Court by itself is insufficient to constitute the wilful conduct; as has been mentioned in explanation (a) of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code to constitute cruelty.

Under such circumstances, this Court is of the considered view that even if the entire allegations made against the petitioner are considered to be true in their entirety, still, the offence punishable under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code is not made out against the petitioner. Therefore, continuation of the criminal proceeding against the petitioner will amount to abuse of process of law and this is a fit case where the entire criminal proceeding including the order dated 11.06.2024 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi in connection with the Complaint Case No. 1304 of 2024 as also the order dated 10.04.2026 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi in connection with the said Complaint Case No. 1304 of 2024 be quashed and set aside.

Accordingly, the entire criminal proceeding including the order dated 11.06.2024 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi in connection with the Complaint Case No. 1304 of 2024 as also the order dated 10.04.2026 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class-XXI, Ranchi in connection with the said Complaint Case No. 1304 of 2024 is quashed and set aside.

In the result, this criminal miscellaneous petition is allowed.

In view of the disposal of this criminal miscellaneous petition interlocutory applications, if any, is disposed of being infructuous.