Banyan Susheela And 4 Others vs State Of Telangana And Another

The present Criminal Petition is filed under Section - 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short ‘Code’’) to quash the

proceedings in D.V.C. No.24 of 2021 on the file of II Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Nizamabad. The petitioners herein are respondents in

the said DVC. The said DVC is filed by respondent No.2 herein under Section - 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

(for short ‘Act, 2005’) against the petitioners seeking various reliefs.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor appearing on behalf of respondent No.1 - State. Perused the

record.

The learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that the petitioners herein never harassed the 2nd respondent as alleged by her in the

complaint. The 2nd respondent falsely implicated the petitioners in the present case. He would further submit that 1st petitioner herein is mother/R.2,

2nd petitioner is brother/R.4, 3rd petitioner is sister-in-law/R.5 and petitioner Nos.4 and 5/R.6 and R.7 are married sisters of R.1 respectively. There

are no allegations, much less specific allegations against the petitioners. In view of the same, he sought to quash the proceedings in the said DVC by

dispensing with their presence before the trial Court.

On the other hand, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor would submit that there are specific allegations made against the petitioners by the 2nd

respondent in the complaint filed under Section - 12 of the Act, 2005 and that the petitioners shall co-operate in concluding the trial before the Court

below. In view of the same, he sought to dismiss the present petition.

As per the contents of the petition filed under Section - 12 of the Act, 2005, the marriage of R.1 with the 2nd respondent was performed on

02.02.1995. After marriage, the petitioners herein started harassing the 2nd respondent.

In this regard, it is apt to refer to the decision rendered by a learned Single Judge of High Court of Judicature for the States of Telangana and

Andhra Pradesh in Giduthuri Kesari Kumar v. State of Telangana 2015 (2) ALD (Crl.) 470 (AP), which is as under:

“14) To sum up the findings:

i) Since the remedies under D.V. Act are civil remedies, the Magistrate in view of his powers under Section 28(2) of D.V Act shall issue notice to the

parties for their first appearance and shall not insist for the attendance of the parties for every hearing and in case of non-appearance of the parties

despite receiving notices, can conduct enquiry and pass exparte order with the material available. It is only in the exceptional cases where the

Magistrate feels that the circumstance require that he can insist the presence of the parties even by adopting coercive measures.

ii) In view of the remedies which are in civil nature and enquiry is not a trial of criminal case, the quash petitions under Sec.482 Cr.P.C. on the plea

that the petitioners are unnecessarily arrayed as parties are not maintainable. It is only in exceptional cases like without there existing any domestic

relationship as laid under Section 2(f) of the D.V. Act between the parties, the petitioner filed D.V. case against them or a competent Court has

already acquitted them of the allegations which are identical to the ones leveled in the Domestic Violence Case, the respondents can seek for

quashment of the proceedings since continuation of the proceedings in such instances certainly amounts to abuse of process of Court.â€​

In the present case, the 2nd petitioner herein is aged mother of R.1, therefore, it is difficult for her to attend the Court on each date of hearing. Even

the allegations made in the complaint against the petitioners herein are general in nature.

Considering the said facts and also in view of the principle laid down in the above judgment, this Court is inclined to dispense with the presence of

the petitioners in the DVC proceedings.

In view of the above discussion, the present Criminal Petition is disposed of, dispensing with personal appearance of petitioners herein in D.V.C.

No.24 of 2021 on the file of II Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Nizamabad. However, it is made clear that the proceedings may go on

against the respondent No.1 in DVC No.24 of 2021.

As a sequel, miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in the Criminal Petition shall stand closed.