LexRANJEET MITTAL versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANR. ETC. ETC.
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[2024] 9 S.C.R. 811 : 2024 INSC 766 Ranjeet Mittal v. The State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr. Etc. Etc. (Criminal Appeal No(s). 3680-3682 of 2024) 03 September 2024 [Vikram Nath and Prasanna B. Varale, JJ.] Issue for Consideration High Court whether justified in quashing the charges against Respondent Nos.2-5 (husband and in-laws of the victim-deceased) holding that prima facie the respondents did not abet the deceased to commit suicide. Headnotes† Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s.482 – Penal Code, 1860 – ss.498-A, 306, 34, 302, 201 – Victim died after allegedly falling off from terrace – Trial court framed charges against Respondent Nos.2-5 for abetment to commit suicide – Charges if rightly quashed by High Court: Held: No – High Court erred in quashing the order of trial court framing charges – Deceased was being abused and ill-treated in her matrimonial home – There was a serious argument between her and her husband right before she allegedly fell off from terrace – The husband took her to hospital on a handcart (thela) despite having alternate options of using the Car – No ornaments were found on her body – For quashing of criminal charges it must be shown that there is no sufficient evidence to prove a prima facie case against the accused persons – However, in the present case, considering the statements by witnesses indicating abuse and torture of deceased by her in-laws and other factual circumstances, prima facie case is made against the accused persons – Given the statements of witnesses, suspicious circumstances around death of deceased and gravity of offense, the trial needs to be conducted to reach to the truth – Orders passed by High Court, set aside – Trial to proceed from the stage of framing of charges. [Paras 18, 19, 21, 22] Case Law Cited CBI v. Aryan Singh [2023] 2 SCR 819 : 2023 SCC OnLine SC 379 – relied on. 812 [2024] 9 S.C.R. Digital Supreme Court Reports List of Acts Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; Penal Code, 1860. List of Keywords Abetment to commit suicide; Quashing of charges; Abuse, Ill-treatment, Torture of deceased by in-laws; Fallen off from terrace; Suspicious circumstances; Gravity of offense; Deceased abused; Matrimonial home; Handcart (thela). Case Arising From CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal Nos. 3680-3682 of 2024 From the Judgment and Order dated 08.05.2023 of the High Court of M.P. at Gwalior in CRLR Nos. 5766, 5767 and 5768 of 2019 Appearances for Parties Abhay Gupta, Atul Gupta, Paramjeet Singh, Deepak Singh, Saksham Kapoor, Praveen Swarup, Advs. for the Appellant. Amit Sharma, A.A.G., Yashraj Singh Bundela, Kameshwar Nath Mishra, Mrs. Pratima Singh, Chanakya Baruah, Ms. Saloni, Shishir Kumar Saxena, R.N. Pareek, Ankur Parihar, Prashant Chaudhary, Advs. for the Respondents. Judgment / Order of the Supreme Court Order 1. Leave granted. 2. The appellant assails the common order dated 08.05.2023 passed by High Court for Judicature of Madhya Pradesh at Gwalior in Criminal Revision No.5766 of 2019, Criminal Revision No. 5767 of 2019 and Criminal Revision 5768 of 2019 whereby the High Court allowed Criminal Revision filed by Respondent no. 2 to 5 and quashed the order dated 07.11.2019 passed by 3rd Additional Session Judge, District- Vidisha against Respondent No. 2 framing charges under section 498-A, 306 read with Section 34 IPC and in alternate under Section 302 read with Section 34, and 201 of Indian Penal Code. By the same order, the High Court also quashed the order passed [2024] 9 S.C.R. 813 Ranjeet Mittal v. The State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr. Etc. Etc. on 13.11.2019 against Respondent No. 3 to 5, framing charges under section 498-A, 306 read with Section 34 and in alternate under Section 302 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code. The Appellant Ranjit Mittal is the son of Complainant- Mr. Kailash Mittal who passed away on 21.02.2023. The Complainant was father of Anjali Agarwal, the deceased. 3. The brief facts leading to framing of charges against Respondent No.2 to 5 are as follows: 4. Deceased Anjali Agarwal was married to Respondent No.2 Sulabh Agarwal on 06.05.2006. After three years of marriage, daughter Mohi was born to them. In 2015, they had a son named Anshaj. She was living in her matrimonial home at Arihant Vihar Colony in Vidisha with her mother-in-law- Madhu Agarwal and father-in-law- Kailash Babu Agarwal who are Respondent No. 3 and 4 respectively. Respondent No. 5, Shilpi
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