- (1.) This writ petition has been filed by Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, an Officer of Indian Revenue Service, posted as Assistant Income-tax Commissioner, Moradabad and his eleven family members. All these petitioners have challenged the First Information Report of 11th January, 2005, whereupon a case was registered as Case Crime No.14 of 2005 under Sections 497/498-A/323/504 and 506 read with 511 I.P.C. and 3/4 Dowry Prohibition Act. This F.I.R. was sought to be quashed on the ground of being per se illegal, mala fide and based on concocted facts. During the pendency of petition, charge-sheet dated February 21, 2005 had been filed in a hurried manner as alleged and since mala fide has been attributed to the Investigating Officer as also the first informant and the latter's father, it is also sought to be quashed alongwith the criminal proceedings initiated thereupon. After that, another charge-sheet dated October 25, 2005 has also been filed against all the petitioners. The main dispute subsists between the husband, namely, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, the petitioner No.6 and his wife Smt. Deepti Yadav, the informant.
(2.) Shortly stated the facts giving rise to this petition are as follows:- The complainant Smt. Deepti Yadav, D/o Shri Heera Lal Yadav was married to Shri Sanjeev Kumar Yadav on 9th December, 1999. Sanjeev Kumar Yadav was then an Officer of Provincial Civil Service (now he is a member of the Central Civil Service and posted as Assistant Income-tax Commissioner, Moradabad). After her marriage, she stayed with her husband at the latter's native village. As usual, the family members and the relatives of Smt. Deepti offered various gifts on the occasion of marriage. The grandmother of the informant, Smt. Sechna Devi had gifted a Maruti Zen Car. A Marshal Jeep was offered by Deepti's father but it was retained in his own name in all the relevant documents. The case of the informant is that her father was compelled by her husband to gift two drafts - one for Rs.75,000/- and the other for Rs.45,000/- in the name of Rajiv Kumar Yadav (brother of Sanjeev Kumar Yadav) and two more drafts of Rs.50,000/- and Rs.1 lac in the name of her husband. All these drafts were encashed by the drawees. The father of the girl also gifted various household items, like, a Hero Honda Generator set, colour T.V. and other costly items of day-to- day use valued at Rs.4 lacs. The relatives of the girl also offered as presents various jewellary items to the family members of her husband. Despite huge expenditures incurred by her father, her husband and his parents were not happy with the gift/dowry items. As a matter of fact, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav and his family members had an oblique eye on the ancestral property of her father. They were all greedy persons and used to pass sarcastic remarks against her father and maligned him as a miser. They were not happy even though a cash of Rs.15 lacs and garments worth Rs.2 lacs had been offered by her father on the occasions of 'lagan' and 'tilak' ceremonies. With this greed in his mind, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav stopped coming to her when she was living at her parents' house in Lucknow and when she conceived, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav pressed her for abortion. However, she did not agree and in due course delivered a baby son on 17th December, 2000. In spite of the fact that due intimation was sent to Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, he did not come to see her and her newly born child. The petitioner did not keep the informant in her matrimonial home for long and since she was asked to stay with her parents she came to Lucknow. In the meantime, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav who was preparing for the Central Civil Service competition started demanding a sum of Rs.5 lacs so as to incur expenditure for his study etc. The informant's father, despite economical constraints, but keeping in view a concept of happy life for his daughter, paid the said sum as demanded. But this too was considered to be inadequate and Sanjeev Kumar Yadav continued to cause her mental and physical harassment. When the informant's parents contacted her husband's relatives in village Tadwa (Pilkichha) to find out the cause of Sanjeev Kumar Yadav's indifferent attitude towards the informant, they came to know that Sanjeev and his family members had expected a dowry of Rupees One crore and a palatial house in Mahanagar, Lucknow.
(3.) The efforts for reconciliation taken recourse to in July, 2001 proved futile. The F.I.R. further discloses that the greed of Sanjeev Kumar Yadav acquired disproportionate dimensions, when he got selected in Indian Revenue Service (I.R.S.). He and his family members taking advantage of this development started demanding a dowry of Rs.10 lacs and a well-equipped and furnished house in Lucknow. However, such demand was not fulfilled by the informant's father. As a consequence, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav refused to take her with him to the place of posting, i.e. Moradabad. Being compelled in the said circumstances, the informant's father took her to that place on August 21, 2004 and she started living with her husband but barely four days after Sanjeev Kumar Yadav assaulted her and made an abortive attempt to administer her acid. The informant fell seriously sick. Sanjeev Kumar Yadav brought her to her parents' house in Vishwas Khand on 27th August, 2004 and since then he had not taken care of her. The informant was also beaten when she was living with him in district Sultanpur, where he was posted as Deputy Collector.;