Kanchan Chakraborty, J. - (1.) Smt. Rupa Agarwal and Smt. Deepa Tantia have taken out this application Under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure praying for quashing of proceeding in Tollygunge Police Station Case No. 281 of 2009 dated 13.11.2009 under Ss. 498A/384/327/406/506/120B of the Indian Penal Code so far as that relates to them.
(2.) Tollygunge Police Station case No. 281 of 2009 dated 13.11.2009 was initiated on the basis of a written complaint filed by Smt. Megha Agarwal wife of Deepak Agarwal in the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Alipore on 15.11.2009 which was referred to Tollygunge Police Station under Sec. 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure for treating the same as FIR and to start investigation and to report. Smt. Megha Agarwal filed that written complaint against her husband Deepak Agarwal, father -in -law Dursi Chandra Agarwal , Smt. Raj Kumari Agarwal, mother -in -law, Smt. Deepa Tanti, married sister -in -law and Smt. Rupa Agarwal, married sister -in -law. The allegations and aspersions put forth in the written complaint are stated below, in short:
(3.) The complainant Megha Agarwal was married to accused No. 1 Deepak Agarwal on 11.7.2007. At the time of marriage, cash of Rs. 10 lakhs and other valuables including gold ornaments, jewellery etc. were given to the accused persons to their full satisfaction. After marriage, Megha started residing in her matrimonial house with her husband, father -in -law and mother -in -law (accused No. 1,2 and 3) at Gurupada Haldar Road, P.S. Kalighat, Kolkata -700026. The accused No. 4 and 5 (hereinafter referred to as the Petitioners) were regular visitors and at the instance of all the accused persons, the complainant Megha was to forced to hand over and entrust cash, jewellery, ornaments and other valuables worth Rs. 40 lakhs with the accused persons. Within a few months of her marriage, the accused persons started inflicting torture upon Megha and demanded that Megha should bring one Crore Rupees from her parents. On her failure to do so, she was subjected to torture by the accused persons. Megha used to report such incidents to her parents. Degree of torture upon her was increased as she failed to bring Rs. one Crore from her parents. The parents of Megha expressed their financial inability to meet such huge demand and agreed to the proposal of the accused persons that a sum of Rs. 50,000/ - would be paid in every month towards maintenance of Megha. However, the behavior and attitude of the accused person towards Megha did not change. The husband i.e. accused No. 1 used to assault Megha and abuse her by passing ugly remarks. The accused No. 1 even inflicted burn injuries on her legs and arms. On 20.7.2009, the accused No. 1, after beating Megha mercilessly, disrobed her completely and ousted her from the flat in the open common verandah where she had to spend two hours in such condition. She was treated by the accused persons as maid servant of the house and was not allowed to talk to the neighbourers. Megha some how informed her father about her condition over telephone on 21.7.2009. Her father immediately came to her matrimonial house but he was treated rudely and roughly by the accused No. 1. Megha had to lodge one FIR with Kalighat Police Station against her husband, father -in -law and mother -in -law on 24.7.2009 and pursuant thereto a case being Kalighat Police Station case No. 140 dated 26.7.2009 under Sec. 498A/406/34 of Indian Penal Code read with Sec. 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act was registered. The accused No. 1 was arrested on 26.7.2009 and he was remanded to police custody till 3.8.2009. The accused No. 2 and 3, in order to evade arrest, absconded after locking the Flat at 49, Guru Pada Halder Road. Subsequent to the arrest of the accused No. 1, the accused No. 2 to 5 visited Megha at her paternal home and assured her and her parents that in the event Megha gives no objection for the grant of bail in respect of accused No. 1, she would not only be taken back to her matrimonial home but would be treated well by the accused persons in future. They also assured Megha that a separate accommodation would be arranged for Megha and accused No. 1 and that accused No. 4 and 5 would not visit their new place of residence nor would interfere in their marital life. The accused No. 2 to 5 further promised that the stridhan articles of Megha would be given back to her custody. The accused No. 2 to 5 assured further that the accused No. 2 would withdraw the latter dated 29.7.2009 wherein he had made a false claim and statement to the effect that the complainant had taken of her stridhan and that they would not make any further claim of Rs. 50,000/ - per month from the parents of Megha towards her purported maintenance. Megha and her parents in good faith believed the assurance and representation of the accused No. 2 to 5 and accordingly on 3.8.2009, Megha appeared before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate and got her no objection in the matter of bail to the accused No. 1, recorded. Learned Magistrate pursuant to the undertaking given by the accused No. 1 in his affidavit for returning stridhan of Megha and on the basis of 'no objection' given by Megha, granted bail to the accused No. 1. Megha thereafter came back to her matrimonial house at 49, Gurupada Halder Road on 25.10.2009 and was shifted to her new place of residence together with accused No. 1 at 35 A Lake place P.S. Tollygunge, Kolkata - 700029. Few days thereafter, the accused No. 1 changed his behaviour and attitude towards Megha and started inflicting torture on her. That torture was increased day by day and the accused No. 1 forced Megha to have sexual intercourse with him against her will and thereby took revenge upon Megha deliberately and intentionally. The accused No. 2 to 5 also started visiting the new residence of Megha and accused No. 1 and again started interfering into the marital life in various ways. They gradually pressurized Megha to withdraw the Kalighat Police Station case lodged by her. When Megha reminded accused No. 2 to 5 about their earlier representation/promises to return her entire stridhan articles, they became furious and threatened her that she would be taught a lesson by her husband for her audacity. Thereafter, the cruel and hares behaviour of the accused No. 1 increased manifold. She was subjected to physical torture by the accused persons almost every day with threatening of dire consequences. Megha duly reported the matter to her parents. On 3.10.2009, at about 20.00 hours the accused No. 1 accompanied with other accused persons started arguing with Megha over the issue of non -withdrawal of the Kalighat Police Station Case by Megha. They started shouting, abusing and passing dirty remarks against Megha as well as her parents. The accused No. 1, at the instigation of other accused persons started assaulting Megha asking her to write a letter of declaration for withdrawing of Kalighat Police Station case and acknowledging receipt of her stridhan articles from them. Megha refused to do so and the accused No. 1 assaulted her with fists, blows and wooden stick on her face and other parts of the body causing severe injuries. Finally, the accused persons managed to extort signatures of Megha on some blank papers under threat of death and more grievous injuries. The accused No. 2 to 5 thereafter left the place with said blank papers containing signatures of Megha. Megha informed her parents about the incident and she was taken to Sambhunath Pandit hospital on 4.102009 by her brother. She lodged one complaint with Tollygunge Police Station which was noted in the G.D. of the police station as entry No. 274 dated 4.10.2009. Megha apprehending that in case she returns back to her matrimonial house she would be killed, stayed back with her parents. On 7.10.2009, in the eve of Karwa Chouth Festival she went to visit her in -laws at 49, Gurupada Halder Road. But she was misbehaved, abused and humiliated by the accused No. 3 in presence of accused No. 2 who threatened her that unless she takes divorce, she would be finished by them. Megha had to return back to her parent's house. The accused persons hatched up criminal conspiracy in convenience with each others to get the Kalighat Police Station case filed by Megha withdrawn by using physical force on her and obtaining her signatures on some blank papers under threatening of dire consequences. She was continuously ill treated and subjected to torture in her matrimonial house by husband and other in -laws. She apprehended that accused No. 1 may utilize the blank papers containing signatures of Megha for creating documents or valuable security. The offence alleged took place at 35A Lake place, P.S. Tollygunge, Kolkata - 29 wherein all the accused persons were involved.;