Karnataka HC Quashes Case Against Four In-Laws, Finding 3-Day-Delayed Complaint A Vague Counterblast Amid Family Dispute

Respondent No. 2, who was married to the son of accused Nos. 3 and 4, alleged that on 15 March 2023 the petitioners—her in-laws and sisters-in-law—trespassed into her house, abused her and threatened her.

She lodged her complaint three days later, and, following investigation, the police filed a charge sheet for offences under Sections 504, 506 and 323 read with Section 34 of the IPC; the Magistrate took cognizance in C.C. No. 952/2023.

The petitioners sought to quash the proceedings under Section 482 CrPC, contending that the complaint was a retaliatory counterblast to a complaint previously lodged by accused No. 3 and to a senior-citizen maintenance and protection application.

The earlier complaint against respondent No. 2 had resulted in her acquittal.

Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure empowers the High Court to quash criminal proceedings where the material, even taken at face value, does not disclose an offence against the accused and continuation of the proceedings would amount to an abuse of the process of the court.

The alleged offences were under Sections 504, 506 and 323 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

The court considered the admitted family dispute, the parties’ related proceedings and the three-day delay in lodging the complaint. It found that the complaint contained only bald and omnibus allegations, without specific averments against the petitioners, and regarded it as a retaliatory counterblast to accused No. 3’s complaint, which had ended in acquittal.

Concluding that even the charge-sheet allegations, taken at face value, did not make out the charged offences, the court held that allowing the proceedings to continue would abuse the process of the court.

It quashed the proceedings against all petitioners in C.C. No. 952/2023, arising from Crime No. 11/2023 and pending before the Civil Judge and JMFC, Koppa, for offences under Sections 504, 506 and 323 read with Section 34 IPC.