Allowed

Santosh S/O. Appa Sathe and Anr. v. the State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Bombay HC11 Nov 2019APPLN/1662/2018

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The High Court at Bombay, Aurangabad Bench quashed an F.I.R. regarding abetment of suicide and related offences. Relying on the wife's prior maintenance proceedings alleging domestic violence and the deceased's failed attempt to regain custody, the court held the case an abuse of process.

What did the court decide?

Application allowed; case against applicants quashed and set aside; counsel fees for respondent No. 2 quantified at Rs. 3000/-.

Santosh S/O. Appa Sathe and Anr. Vs the State of Maharashtra… — Cheque Dishonour | Bombay HC (2019)

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Cri. Appln. No. 1662/18

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IN THE HIGH COURT AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE, BENCH AT AURANGABAD

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CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1662 OF 2018

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Santosh s/o. Appa Sathe, Age Major, Occu. Business, R/o. Khadki, Belpimpalgaon, Taluka Newasa, District Ahmednagar.

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Sonali wd/o. Prabhakar Fasage, Age 30 years, Occu. Housewife, R/o. Sainagar, Matan Market, Bajartal, Ward No. 3, Shrirampur, Taluka Shrirampur, District Ahmednagar.

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....Applicants.

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Versus

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The State of Maharashtra

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Vasant s/o. Ratan Fasage, Age 45 years, Occu. Business, R/o. New Kaygaon, Taluka Gangapur, District Aurangabad. ....Respondents.

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Mr. Shaikh Joyed I., Advocate for applicants. Mrs. V.S. Choudhari, APP for respondent No. 1/State.

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Mrs. Anita Gadekar, Advocate for respondent No. 2 (appointed)

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CORAM : T.V. NALAWADE AND S.M. GAVHANE, JJ. DATED : 11/11/2019.

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ORAL JUDGMENT : [PER T.V. NALAWADE, J.]

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Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent, heard

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both the sides for fnal disposal.

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Present proceeding is fled for relief of quashing of F.I.R.

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Cri. Appln. No. 1662/18

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No. 366/2017 registered with Gangapur Police Station, District Aurangabad for the ofences punishable under sections 306, 353, 504, 506 of Indian Penal Code. The crime is registered on the basis of report given by respondent No. 2 Vasant. In F.I.R dated 14.9.2017 he has made allegations that deceased Prabhakar was his cousin brother and due to the harassment of the present applicants he committed suicide. Applicant No. 2 is the widow of Prabhakar and applicant No. 1 Santosh is husband of sister of applicant No. 2. The marriage of applicant No. 2 with Prabhakar had taken place prior to 12 years from the date of incident. Applicant No. 2 has three issues who are aged about 5 years, 3 years and 1 year.

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Applicant No. 2 was living separate from the husband and the issues were with her. It is the contention of informant that the deceased used to say that applicant No. 2 had illicit relations with applicant No. 1 and that is why she was living separate from him. According to him, many attempts were made by the deceased to bring applicant No. 2 back to the matrimonial house, but she had refused to return and she was living separate from him for about one and half years. According to him, the last incident took place on 10.9.2017 when the deceased and Sham had gone to the house of parents of the deceased to bring her back and there, applicant No. 2 had virtually assaulted the deceased and had given threat to fnish him. After returning from the house of the parents of the wife, the

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Cri. Appln. No. 1662/18

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deceased was disturbed and ultimately on 12.9.2017 in the noon time, he committed suicide by hanging himself in the house. The F.I.R. came to be given on 14.9.2017 and the crime came to be registered at 7.01 p.m.

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The applicants have produced the record like copy of the proceeding fled by applicant No. 2 for maintenance under section 125 of Cr.P.C. on 29.5.2017 and her three issues. Copy of proceeding fled under Domestic Violence Act on 22.6.2017 is also produced showing that she had prayed for taking action against husband and she had also prayed for compensation. In the proceeding fled by her, she has made allegations that the husband is addicted to bad vices like liquor and from April 2017 he had started asking her to give divorce and as she had refused to give divorce, he was harassing her. He was also asking her to bring Rs. three lakh from her parents and ultimately, she was driven out of the matrimonial house along with the deceased along with issues and that is why she was living in the house of her parents. The deceased was working as truck driver. The husband had fled proceeding under section 97 of Cr.P.C. for getting the custody of three issues, but he could not succeed in that proceeding and by order dated 20.1.2018 the said proceeding was dismissed by the learned J.M.F.C., Shrirampur (M.A. No. 204/2017).

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Cri. Appln. No. 1662/18

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The aforesaid circumstances show that applicant No. 2 had fled proper proceedings in the Court and she had made allegations of aforesaid nature against the deceased. It is clear that the husband wanted to avoid the proceedings. It does not look probable that he had gone to the wife on previous day of the incident when such proceedings were fled and when he had also fled separate proceeding under section 97 of Cr.P.C. He was only interested in getting the custody of the issues if at all he had any intentions. He had not fled any proceeding to bring the wife back to the matrimonial house.

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If the wife did not want to return to matrimonial house due to the conduct of the husband, inference is not possible that she had intention to abet the suicide. It does not look probable that she had any afair. If she had afair the husband would not have made an attempt to bring her back to the matrimonial house. In a proceeding which was fled under section 97 of Cr.P.C. he had not made any allegation that she had such afair. Due to all these circumstances, this Court holds that it will be abuse of process of law if the present applicants are asked to face the trial for aforesaid ofences. In the result, the following order.

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O R D E R

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(I) Application is allowed. Relief is granted in terms of prayer clauses ‘B’ and ‘B-1’ as per the amended copy of the application. The

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Cri. Appln. No. 1662/18

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case, if any, fled against the applicants is quashed and set aside.

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(II) The fees of the counsel appointed for respondent No. 2 is quantifed as Rs.3000/- (Rupees three thousand) and it is to be paid through High Court Legal Services Authority, Aurangabad.

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Rule is made absolute in those terms.

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[ S.M. GAVHANE, J.] [T.V. NALAWADE, J.]

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ssc/

Santosh S/O. Appa Sathe and Anr. v. the State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Santosh S/O. Appa Sathe and Anr. v. the State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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