Vandana Aggarwal vs Pratik Goyal & Ors.
- Court
- Delhi High Court
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Reserved on: July 09, 2026
% Pronounced on: July 17, 2026
+ CRL.M.C. 1132/2022
VANDANA AGGARWAL ...Petitioner
Through: Mr. Varun Mittal and Mr. Govil
Upadhaya, Advs.
Versus
PRATIK GOYAL & ORS. ...Respondents
Through: Mr. Sujeet Beniwal, Mr. Tushar
Rohmetra, Advs.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SAURABH BANERJEE
J U D G M E N T
1. By virtue of the present petition under Article 227 of the Constitution
of India read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973,
the petitioner inter alia seeks setting aside of the judgment dated
21.10.2021 in Crl. Appeal No.54/2021 passed by learned District &
1
Sessions Judge, (Shahdara), Karkardooma Courts, Delhi and the order
dated 08.04.2021 in Ct No.1611/2020 passed by the learned Metropolitan
2
Magistrate (Mahila) Court, (Shahdara), Karkardooma Courts, Delhi .
2. Briefly put , the marriage between the petitioner and the proforma
respondent no.3 herein was solemnised on 26.12.2016 according to Hindu
rites and ceremonies. With the passage of time, the matrimonial
relationship between the parties turned sour, and subsequently, as alleged
1
Hereinafter referred as “learned Appellate Court”
2
Hereinafter referred as “learned Magistrate”
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by the petitioner, she was forced to leave her matrimonial home in
December, 2019 and has since been residing separately. Thereafter, the
petitioner filed an application under Section 12 of the Protection of Women
3
from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 before the learned Magistrate, seeking
various reliefs including protection order, residence order and maintenance.
In the impugned order dated 08.04.2021 passed therein, summons were
only issued to the proforma respondent nos.4 and 5 herein/ respondent nos.
2 and 3 therein, whereas, respondent nos.1 and 2 herein/ respondent nos. 4
4
and 5 therein were deleted from the array of parties. Aggrieved thereby,
the petitioner preferred an appeal under Section 29 of the DV Act before
the learned Appellate Court which has been dismissed by the impugned
judgment dated 21.10.2021. Hence, challenging the order dated 08.04.2021
and the judgment dated 21.10.2021, the petitioner is before this Court.
3. Learned counsel for petitioner seeking setting aside of the impugned
judgment and the order submitted that the Courts below have passed the
impugned judgment and order in a mechanical way without any application
of mind. He submitted that the names of respondent nos.1 and 2 have been
wrongly/ erroneously deleted from the array of the parties merely on the
ground that the petitioner has not made any specific allegation qua them in
5
the Domestic Incident Report . The finding of the Courts below is
completely perverse inasmuch as in DIR in para no.4(ii) under the head of
‘ Verbal and Emotional Abuse’ , the allegations against the respondent nos.1
and 2 are clearly mentioned against all of the respondents.
3
Hereinafter referred as “DV Act”
4
Hereinafter referred as “respondent nos. 1 and 2”
5
Hereinafter referred as “DIR”
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4. Learned counsel then submitted that even otherwise, DIR cannot be
the sole basis for issuing summons or deleting the respondents from array
of parties. He submitted that DIR is cyclostyle typed format wherein
complainant has to give answer to some specific question(s) and it cannot
be considered as encyclopaedia and thus learned Appellate Court as well as
the learned Magistrate were bound to see the materials available on record
including the complaint under Section 12 of the DV Act, while issuing
summons, which both the Courts below failed to do.
5. Learned counsel further submitted that there are specific allegations
against the respondent nos.1 and 2 (which are reproduced in paragraph no.3
of the present petition) in the original complaint and deleting their names
from the array of the parties, merely on the aforesaid account and without
appreciating the contents of the complaint, would frustrate the very
objective of the DV Act.
6. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents has supported the
impugned judgment and order. He submitted that the complaint itself was/
is entirely devoid of material particulars, and bereft of any specific
instances, as it consists of bald, omnibus, and vague allegations against the
respondents. He submitted that the learned Courts below after carefully
examining the facts and circumstances of the case and the DIR placed on
record, deleted the respondent nos.1 and 2 from the said complaint.
7. Learned counsel for the respondents then submitted that it was the
petitioner who had left her matrimonial home without any reason and came
back only when the proposed respondent no.3 herein filed a petition under
Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. He submitted that the petitioner
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never made any complaint against any of the respondents even during this
time.
8. Learned counsel for the respondents lastly submitted that the
complainant filed the present complaint under Section 12 of DV Act as a
counterblast to the petition for divorce filed by the proposed respondent
no.3 so as to settle the scores with the respondents.
9. This Court has heard learned counsels for the parties as also gone
through the documents and materials on record.
10. The DV Act is a beneficial legislation enacted with the avowed
object of providing more effective protection to the rights of women
guaranteed under the Constitution of India and to protect them against
violence of any kind occurring within the domestic sphere. Significantly, in
furtherance of its objective, Section 3 of the DV Act confers a very wide
meaning to the term ‘ domestic violence ’ as under:-
“ 3. Definition of domestic violence .—For the purposes of
this Act, any act, omission or commission or conduct of the
respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it—
(a) harms or injures or endangers the health, safety,
life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical,
of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and
includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse,
verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or
(b) harasses, harms, injures or endangers the
aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any
other person related to her to meet any unlawful
demand for any dowry or other property or valuable
security; or
(c) has the effect of threatening the aggrieved
person or any person related to her by any conduct
mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or
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(d) otherwise injures or causes harm, whether
physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.
Explanation I.—For the purposes of this section,—
(i) “physical abuse” means any act or conduct
which is of such a nature as to cause bodily pain,
harm, or danger to life, limb, or health or impair the
health or development of the aggrieved person and
includes assault, criminal intimidation and criminal
force;
(ii) “sexual abuse” includes any conduct of a sexual
nature that abuses, humiliates, degrades or
otherwise violates the dignity of woman;
(iii) “verbal and emotional abuse” includes—
(a) insults, ridicule, humiliation, name calling and
insults or ridicule specially with regard to not
having a child or a male child; and
(b) repeated threats to cause physical pain to any
person in whom the aggrieved person is interested.
(iv) “economic abuse” includes—
(a) deprivation of all or any economic or
financial resources to which the aggrieved
person is entitled under any law or custom
whether payable under an order of a court or
otherwise or which the aggrieved person
requires out of necessity including, but not
limited to, household necessities for the
aggrieved person and her children, if any,
stridhan, property, jointly or separately owned
by the aggrieved person, payment of rental
related to the shared household and
maintenance;
(b) disposal of household effects, any
alienation of assets whether movable or
immovable, valuables, shares, securities, bonds
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and the like or other property in which the
aggrieved person has an interest or is entitled
to use by virtue of the domestic relationship or
which may be reasonably required by the
aggrieved person or her children or her
stridhan or any other property jointly or
separately held by the aggrieved person; and
(c) prohibition or restriction to continued
access to resources or facilities which the
aggrieved person is entitled to use or enjoy by
virtue of the domestic relationship including
access to the shared household.
Explanation II.—For the purpose of determining whether any
act, omission, commission or conduct of the respondent
constitutes “domestic violence” under this section, the
overall facts and circumstances of the case shall be taken
into consideration.”
11. A perusal thereof reflects that Explanation II appended to Section 3
of the DV Act mandates the Courts to evaluate the overall factual matrix so
as to come to the conclusion, whether there are allegations of domestic
violence or not.
12. It is against the aforesaid backdrop that this Court is proceeding with
the findings arrived at by the learned Magistrate in the impugned order
dated 08.04.2021 whereby the respondent nos.1 and 2 have not been issued
summons and in fact their names have been deleted instead. The relevant
extracts thereof are reproduced as under:-
“Heard . Perused the DIR. Perusal of DIR shows that there is
specific allegations qua R-1 to R-3 and complainant has
never made any specific allegations qua R-4 and 5 in the
DIR. After hearing the contention of Ld. Counsel for
complainant and going through the DIR as well as material
available on record, I am of the considered opinion that there
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are prima-facie sufficient ground to summon respondent No. 2
& 3 as well.”
Let summons be issued to respondent no.2 to 3 as well on
filing of PF/ RC through all modes. PF be filed within seven
days from today. Rest respondents be deleted from the array of
parties. R-4 and 5 are deleted from the array of the parties.”
13. Subsequently, the Appellate Court vide the impugned judgment
dated 21.10.2021 has also recorded the following reasons for upholding the
order dated 08.04.2021 passed by the learned Magistrate:-
“9. In view of the facts and circumstances of the case
arguments of the Ld. Counsel for the appellant and respondent
Nos.1 & 2 and also the records as well as the impugned order,
I am of the considered opinion that the marriage between the
appellant and the proforma respondent No.3-herein was
solemnized on 26.12.2016. However, the appellant started to
live separately w.e.f 29.12.2019. The first complaint was filed
by the complainant in the Police Station at Ghaziabad on
03.01.2020. Meaning thereby, no such allegations were made
by the complainant/ appellant against the respondents for
dowry, etc. as mentioned in the DIR till 02.01.2020 at any
place. Thereafter, the complaint under DV Act was filed in
July 2020. Moreover, no specific allegations were made by
the complainant-therein/ appellant-herein against the
respondent Nos. 4 & 5-therein/ respondent Nos. 1 & 2-herein
in the DIR. Therefore, there is no infirmity or illegality in the
impugned order dt.08.04.2021. Accordingly, this appeal is
devoid of any merits and the same is dismissed. No order as to
costs. Parties as well as counsel are directed to appear before
the Ld. Trial Court on the date already fixed on 09.12.2021.
Trial Court record along with copy of this judgment be sent
back. The appeal file be consigned to Record Room.”
14. As is apparent therefrom, both the impugned judgment and order are
premised on the basis of there being no specific allegations against the
respondent nos.1 and 2 in the DIR. In other words, both the Courts below
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passed the impugned judgment and order by treating the DIR in singularity,
completely ignoring the allegations made by the petitioner in the complaint.
This, prima facie , is not the essence of the DV Act, particularly , since the
Courts below have negated the submissions made in the complaint and
proceeded on the basis of the DIR independently. This would frustrate the
whole purpose and object of the DV Act.
15. The DIR, no doubt, is a relevant document, prepared to facilitate/
assist the Magistrate, however, it can neither substitute nor supersede the
original complaint/ application filed under Section 12 of the DV Act, since
this is in furtherance of the allegations made in the complaint. Therefore,
both, the complaint and the DIR, have to be cumulatively taken/ read in
conjunction with each other and not in isolation. At the end of the day, a
DIR is only required to be filed in a pending complaint. It can have no
independent legs to stand on.
16. Thus, where the case is such like the present one wherein the
complaint itself discloses specific allegations constituting ‘domestic
violence’ , as encapsulated under Section 3 of the DV Act, against the
(proposed) respondent(s), it has significant relevance and gains of utmost
importance in itself. As such, the mere absence/ omission of similar
particulars in the DIR, cannot be a valid ground for refusing to issue
summons to the respondent(s).
17. In the present case, a perusal of the complaint shows that the
petitioner therein has levelled detailed and specific allegations against both
the respondent nos.1 and 2 herein/ respondent nos.4 and 5 therein, which,
for ease of reference, are reproduced as under:-
Allegations against respondent no.1 herein:
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“96. That in September, 2019 parents of complainant
disposed off property. When respondent No. 1 to 4 came to
know about this fact then she started pressurizing complainant
to ask her share in that property so complainant and
respondent No.1 can buy adjacent vacant plot near
matrimonial home in Saharanpur and from that day there was
constant pressure on the complainant from the side of
respondent No.1 to 4.
98. That in October 2019 and it was Sunday as Respondent
No.4 was also seating with other respondents and the
complainant was preparing breakfast for the entire family.
Respondent No. 4 asked respondents No. 2 & 3 that whether
they have spoken to parents of the Complainant for money for
purchasing an adjacent plot to the matrimonial home.
Respondent No. 4 stated that the bank is floating a very
attractive scheme for an employee for home loans at very low-
interest rate. Respondent No. 4 told the parents in law to ask
the Complainant to arrange the money for the plot of land
from her parents. The Complainant was shocked to hear how
her parents would be burdened with such huge money.
115. That on the evening of 9.12.2019, the complainant was
once again abused by all the respondents as she wore the rings
given by her mother. Respondent No.1 told everyone that he
was not well from the day when complainant wore the ring.
Respondent No. 4 told that her finger should be chopped.
Respondent No. 4 asked the complainant that she has to take
out rings. The complainant told that Respondent No.1 has
already taken the ring from her and Respondent no.1 on the
instigation of respondent No. 2 & 4 beaten the Complainant
without any reason or cause.
117. That on 23.12.2019, the complainant was upset because
of protest of NRC (National Register of Citizenship) she posted
few lines “Kiski ko rula kar hasse to kya hasse aur kisi ko ujad
kar basee to kya basee”. On the same day Complainant was
stopped by Respondent No. 3 from serving dinner to
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Respondents and Respondent No.1 asked Respondent No.5 to
serve the dinner. Complainant requested respondents not to
behave in this manner with her, then respondent No. 2 and 4
started abusing the complainant by saying that “bahut support
karti hai unlogo ka, dharm badal le apna” and respondent
No.2 further stated that “bahut beizaati hogai hai hamari, aaj
pranav isko sach mai rula kar dikha, iske wajah se bahut
beizati hoi hai market mai”. Respondent No.5 in order to
instigate the other respondents further added “internet mai koi
aisi post dalta hai ladies hokar ke, puree pariwar mein beizati
ho gai hai aur samaj wale to thu thu karenge”. Respondent
No.2 stated that “aaj iska faisala karwa daitai hai” and all the
respondents abused the complainant for without any reason.
Complainant was boycotted in the house and she was not
allowed to cook any food nor even allowed to make a cup of
tea for herself. The hostile environment towards complainant
was created and when the complainant was not able to
tolerate all the cruelties, tortures and abused and she also
developed fear in her mind that she might be killed or there is
imminent danger to her life and limbs thereafter she decided to
disclose all this fact related to cruelty to her mother and she
telephonically stated her situation on 24.12.2019. Mother
asked and advised the complainant to reconcile her differences
with other respondents and she will ask the father and brother
of the Complainant to talk to the respondents in this regard.
122. That when other respondents came to know about the
fact that family of the complainant are coming on 29.12.2019
then all the respondents started abusing the complainant and
Respondent No.5 asked the complainant “kya dikkat hai tujhe,
ek anniversary nhi banai to pura khandan bula diya”. Mother
in law (Respondent No. 3) immediately called the Respondent
No.1 and apprised him that “Ghaziabad wale log aa rahe hai,
jhagda karne”. Respondent No.1 within 30 minutes reached
the matrimonial house and started abusing the complainant
“kal hi tere ghar walo ke samne tujhe kaat daalunga” and he
immediately called his cousin Pankaj and told him that he did
not want to stay with Complainant and “kal panchayat hogi
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aap saab kal aajana” and thereafter Respondent No.1 and
Respondent No.4 went outside the house and after returning
from their respondent No.4 abused the complainant by saying
her “randi (Prostitute) teri roz roz ki kahani kal khatam ho
jayegi” in front of other respondents and none of them stops
respondent No.4 from saying.”
Allegations against respondent no.2:
“16. That on 28.12.2016, complainant wake up around 5.00
a.m. in the morning and start getting ready. Complainant
requested the Respondent No.1 that she want hot water for
bathing, as there was no geyser in the bath room available at
the first floor. Respondent No.1 told the Complainant that
come and sleep as nobody is awake and complainant also
saw that there was pin drop silence in the house so she also
took nap and around 8:30 a.m. she listen some door bagging
sound and saw sister in law namely Kanika Goyal
(Respondent No. 5) taunted the complainant very
aggressively “ghodi baich kar so rahi hai, sharam nhi atai,
aaj pehla din hai tumhara”. Complainant tried to make her
understands that she wakeup at 5:00 a.m. and when she saw
everyone was sleeping and as such she has no option but to
sleep. Sister in law replied that “bakwas maat kar aur teri
yeh lambi jeebh mummy ji kath dai gee” and Complainant
requested her to give 10 minutes, so that she can get ready.
Complainant immediately requested her husband to arrange
hot water and respondent no.1 went downstairs to bring hot
water in bucket. When mother in law saw that Respondent
No.1 was taking bucket full of hot water. He asked
Respondent No.1 immediately keep the bucket in bathroom
and asked the Complainant to take bath in bathroom of
ground floor. Complainant was so much shocked and
embarrassed that she has to get take bath in ground floor and
where all the gents and other guest were sitting.
17. Complainant get ready for the day and mother in law
asked her to bring all the jewelries and clothes which were
given by her parents at the time of marriage, as she want to
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put it on display. Complainant brought all the suit cases full
of articles, valuable and clothes. Sister in law kept it for
display. Mother in law got angry by saying that where you
have kept the gold set which was given by our side at the time
of engagement. Complainant told her that she brought only
those articles which were given by her family and the
jewelries which were given by the respondent side was taken
by mother in law after the engagement. Mother in law bought
the jewelries which were gifted to the complainant. All the
valuable, gold, clothes were put on display and mother in law
ridiculed the complainant for not bringing sufficient dowry
article and sister in law commented on weight of gold sets
given at the time of marriage and she further ridiculed the
complainant and his family for giving lighter gold earring to
her. Sister in law namely Megha returned the saree which
was given by the parents of the complainant at the time of
marriage however she kept the gold earnings and chain
which was given to her at the time of marriage. Complainant
was humiliated on her complexion by mother in law. All this
activities/humiliation were done in presence of other
respondents i.e. Respondent No.1,2 & 5 and relatives who
were present at that times.
32. That Complainant was feeling lonely, isolated and
heartbroken in her matrimonial house. Respondent No. 1 was
always interested in chatting with other girls, be it younger to
him or unmarried girls or even female relatives. On the other
hand, Complainant’s mother-in law used to insult and
criticize Complainant day and night. She never let
Complainant cook anything in the kitchen as complainant has
not bought sufficient dowry as she was not happy with it.
Whenever Complainant said that she did not want to eat stale
food, her mother-in-law used to say “Jo khilaa rahi hu kale,
khud toh bana nahi sakti.” She did not even let Complainant
watch anything on Television. Once Complainant called
Respondent No. 1 by his name (Pranav), Complainant’s
mother-in law started shouting and hurling abuses at her in
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front of Respondent No.5. She and Respondent No.5 even
started questioning Complainant’s upbringing.
46. That on 06.01.2018, unfortunately, the ‘Daadi Saas’ of
complainant expired and she was residing with Uncle
(Chacha) of Respondent No.1. That even during this tough
time, the attitude of mother in law (Respondent No.3) and
sister in law (Respondent No.5) was indifferent towards the
complainant and they even did not leave any chance to
humiliate or ridicule the Complainant. Sometimes mother in
law used to humiliate the Complainant in front of the relative
on the looks or some time sister in law used to taunt the
complainant on her way of cooking food. All the Respondents
and Complainant have to visit daily at Chacha House till
tervi ceremony. Whenever the complainant tried to serve the
water to the guests who are coming for consoling the family
then she was ridiculed for serving water in the winter season
or whenever the complainant tried to serve the food then she
was embarrassed by elder sister in law (Respondent No.5) by
saying that “ghar mai to koi kaam nhi karti maharani aur
yaha par kitchen sambhalne ko khadi hai…”. Complainant
vividly recalled that her father paid a visit at the time of
death of daadi saas and even at that time she was ridiculed
as she served the water to her father.
50. That complainant was asked by mother in law that she
should call her parents to send holi customary gifts and when
complainant told that her family was under the impression
that since grandmother in law expired recently so they don't
have to send any gift. Sister in law, Respondent No.5
commented that “mummy isko to bahana cahiye, abhi to pure
2 saal bhi nhi hue hai aur dramai start hogai hai iski..” and
on the same evening Respondent No.1 asked the complainant
to call her parents to bring the Holi Shagun otherwise mother
in law (Respondent No. 3) mood will change and she has to
face the tantrum.
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59. That complainant was not allowed to use the Air
Condition during the day time. Respondent No.3 & 5 in law
used to sleep especially during day time in the bedroom of
mother in law where they used AC and Complainant vividly
recalled that on one occasion she switch on the AC, the sister
in law complain to mother in law and mother in law after
hearing this got agitated and she abused the Complainant
and Sister in law put MCB down of the room of Complainant.
62. That on Karwachauth due to existing
customs/traditions in the parental house of the Complainant,
her family did not send any gift and valuable for this festival.
Mother in law asked the complainant “why Karwachauth gift
articles were not sent by her parents” she stated the reason
and mother in law on the instigation of sister in law abused
the complainant. In the evening the behavior of the rest of the
Respondents was not good and she was abused over her
complexion and appearance by mother in law and sister in
law infront of females who were present for evening fast-
breaking pooja of karwachauth.
63. That mother in law after one week of Karwachauth,
asked the complainant to call her mother, as she wanted to
talk her over the phone. The complainant called her mother
and handed over the phone to Respondent No.3. Mother in
law very specifically demanded that on the Occasion of
Diwali she want good quality gifts as it would be the first
Diwali of the complainant at her matrimonial home and she
also told her that she has to bring 23 envelopes of Rs. 1100/-
each for their relatives. Parents of the complainant have no
option left but to accept the demand of respondent No. 2 & 3
and accordingly, on 04/11/2018, twothree days before Diwali
brother Ankur and cousin brother Vinay visited the house of
the respondents for giving the demanded gift. This time
everyone was very happy with the gift as parents of the
complainant have spent about Rs. 2,15,000/- (approx). The
behavior of respondents was normal however, on the day of
Diwali complainant dressed up very nicely but sister in law
was constantly making the sarcastic remark on the look of the
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complainant and she also made a mockery of the colour of
her dress in front of guests she commented that “blue color
dark logo pai suit nhi karta”. The complainant was
humiliated infront of guests and relatives by the sister in law.
67. That on 30.12.2018, the Complainant was washing the
clothes and there was electricity cut and when it was restored
Complainant went back to restart the washing machine. She
found that sister in law (Respondent No 5) was taking out her
half washed clothes from the machine and putting it on floor.
Complainant told her that she was washing the clothes and
still clothes are dirty. Sister in law (Respondent No. 5) in a
very aggressive toned told “apne baap se shaadi mein
mangti,” the complainant was shocked. Complainant stated
the whole incident to her mother in law. Mother in law told
the Complainant that if you wish to wash your clothes then
you can do with hand as the washing machine was bought by
Respondent No.4 or buy a new machine. Complainant
describes the entire incident to her mother and the
complainant mother gave Rs. 25000/- for buying a new
washing machine. When complainant told her mother in law
that her mother has given Rs. 25000/- for washing machine.
Mother in law took all the money and asked the elder sister in
law to allow the complainant to wash her clothes two times in
a week. The complainant felt she was cheated however she
cannot raise the voice against her mother in law as she knew
the consequences of it.
89. That on 10.04.2019 Complainant was serving evening
tea to her mother in law. Mother in law after drinking the tea
ridiculed the Complainant and told her to bring “mathi”. The
Complainant mistakenly told that mathi was just finished the
day before. Respondent No.5 in order to humiliate the
Complainant brought mathi from her room and served the
mother in law. Sister in law told that mathi was very much
there and mother in law abused the Complainant by saying
“bahut kamini aurat hai”, and sister in law told that “iska dil
to hamesha haramkhori mai laga hota hai, mummy app to
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Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:ABHISHEK
Signing Date:17.07.2026
13:20:37
bahut sidhi ho, mai hoti to abhi iska dimag sahi karti”
mother in law pushed the Complainant. Respondent No.1 saw
this beahvior of her mother. He also squabble with her
mother and this is first time he took the side of the
Complainant.. Complainant was happy not because of
squabble in the family but first time her husband supported
and like other female she was also having hope that her
marriage would be save. Respondent No.1 did not talk to her
mother untill Complainant requested him to say sorry to her
mother on the occasion of Mother’s day. Thereafter the
whole blame of squabble between Respondent No.1 and
mother in law was put on the complainant. Complainant was
shocked because of the behaviour of Respondent No.1.”
[ Emphasis Supplied ]
18. In addition thereto, this Court, on perusal of the DIR, even finds that
para no.4(ii) therein, under the head of ‘Verbal and Emotional Abuse’,
specifically mentions about the role of all the respondents to “… …insult
for not having bringing dowry etc…. …” and “ridicule” .
19. The aforesaid, therefore, sufficiently disclose that there were/ are
sufficient allegations which undisputedly falls within the ambit/ parameters
of Section 3 of the DV Act, thereby calling the learned Magistrate to issue
summons to the respondent nos.1 and 2 as also the learned Appellate Court
to allow the challenge made thereagainst.
20. Besides the above, it cannot be ignored that the proceedings initiated
under Section 12 of the DV Act in sensu stricto are not criminal in nature,
the learned Magistrate, even after issuance of summons and after going
through the response of the respondents, if it appears that no case is
ultimately made out against any of the respondent(s), then appropriate
orders in accordance with law can always be passed.
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Digitally Signed
By:ABHISHEK
Signing Date:17.07.2026
13:20:37
21. Ergo , as a sequitur of the aforesaid discussions, the impugned
judgment dated 21.10.2021 in Crl. Appeal No.54/2021 passed by learned
Appellate Court is set aside. Further, the order dated 08.04.2021 in Ct
No.1611/2020 passed by the learned Magistrate is also set aside to the
extent ‘deleting the respondent nos.1 and 2 herein/ respondent nos.4 and 5
therein from the array of parties’.
22. Resultantly , upon the petitioner taking requite steps before the
learned Metropolitan Magistrate (Mahila) Court, (Shahdara), Karkardooma
Courts, Delhi, the learned Magistrate is directed to issue summons to the
respondent nos.1 and 2 herein/ respondent nos.4 and 5 therein.
23. A copy of this judgment be sent to the Principal District & Sessions
Judge (Shahdara), Karkardooma Courts, Delhi for information and
compliance.
24. The present petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
SAURABH BANERJEE, J.
JULY 17, 2026/ bh/ GA
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Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:ABHISHEK
Signing Date:17.07.2026
13:20:37