Sudip Ahluwalia, J. - (1.) THIS revisional application was filed for quashing the proceedings pending in the Court of the Ld. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Serampore, in G.R. Case No. 165 of 2015, arising out of Serampore P.S Case No. 51 of 2015 dated 27.01.2015 under Section 498A of the IPC.
(2.) THE petitioner No. 1 is the husband of the Defacto -Complainant. The petitioner No. 2 is the son of the petitioner No. 1. The petitioner Nos. 3 and 5 are the brothers of petitioner No. 1, while petitioner Nos. 4 and 6 are respectively the wives of those two brothers. The petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 are residents of 61, Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani, under Police Station Serampore, while all the remaining four petitioners are residents of 6G, Lenin Sarani, also under Police Station Serampore. In the FIR lodged by the complainant, she had stated that she had entered into a registered marriage with the petitioner No. 1 on 28th November, 2013 in presence of his son from his first marriage, being the petitioner No. 2. A translated version of the allegations made in the FIR in Bengali would read as follows: - - "Respected Sir, I got married to Dr. Suvendu Mallick by a registered marriage on 28th November, 2013. At the time of marriage the son of Dr. Mallick from his first wife, namely Subhankar Mallick, 20 years old, was present. On the basis of various promises made by them I accepted them and married Dr. Mallick. Some days after marriage I come to know that Dr. Mallick had been, and was in contract with various women. For this reason his first wife was forced to commit suicide on 10th of July, 2011. On account of my knowing about all these matters, Dr. Mallick, his elder brother Ramen Mallick, younger brother Rajen Mallick and son Shubhankar Mallick, along with their wives started to inflict mental and physical cruelty upon me in various ways. Several times I requested my husband not to ruin our family in this manner. But he was not prepared to listen to anything. On the contrary he and his family members are inciting me to commit suicide. With the purpose of driving out of the house they are inflicting various forms of cruelty upon me. I am unable to bear it any further. I therefore, request you, to take strong steps against Dr. Mallick and his family members to save my life. I will also be ever grateful for the cooperation in securing my justified rights. My elder 'Bhasur and Jaa' - Sri Ramen Mallick, Arpita Mallick My younger 'Dewar and Jaa' - Sri Rajen Mallick, Rachna Mallick, Son's name - Shubhankar Mallick......"
(3.) IT has been contended on behalf of the petitioners that the FIR as lodged does not mention anything about any violence being used against the complainant, nor there is any allegation whatsoever that she was subjected to any cruelty in pursuance of any monetary or other dowry related demand. It is also contended that the FIR as such does not indicate any incident of mental or physical torture of such nature or magnitude as would drive the complainant to committing suicide or to cause serious injury to her mental or physical health, and therefore does not fulfil the requirements enumerated in explanations (a) and (b) to Section 498 -A of the IPC which reads as under: "498 -A. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty - Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation - For the purposes of this section, 'cruelty' means - (a) any willful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or (b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.";