Adducing evidences in 498A

[Crusader of the world]

My wife filed a false 498A/406 on my family even after a physical separation of 02 years. Now police has submitted a false chargesheet after another one year to court recently without any investigation, not even questioning my parents, family members or neighbours. The chargesheet that I received from court has no supporting documentary evidences attached related to the charges framed on me. Only there are 03 witnesses except the IO (my wife, her father and mother).
My question is (1) Can the opposite party submit more false allegations/evidences/witnesses at later stage which are not considered at all in the chargesheet??
(2) She left my home at New Delhi at her own will on 2014 and she lodged the false FIR on 2016 in KOLKATA by bribing police. Will this 498A/406 case be maintainable? She has never stayed in Kolkata with me except the day of marriage and following 03 days. She has falsely mentioned that we tortured her for dowry exactly on the day of marriage and reception party against which we can produce thousands of pictures and videos of those days in Kolkata.
(3) The FIR or chargesheet do not contain any date and time of any alleged incidence as all of them are fabricated and false. Is there any chance that the case can be discharged at charge framing stage by magistrate or quashed in high court?
(4) Definitely wife and her parents will give false statements as taught by her lawyer. Will the court give weightage to the statements of her parents and convict me on that basis???
(5) Does court rely on witness statement only or it requires to be established the fact fully by documentary evidences in a criminal trial before giving judgement of conviction???
(6) From several persons/sufferers in false 498A/406 cases, I have heard that lower court trial judges are majorly corrupted and they are being purchased by wives party to give perturbed judgement. Is there any chance that the opposite party can bribe the judge to get the conviction judgement even when it is a totally false criminal case?

Kindly give serial wise reply.

[Dr. Ashok Dhamija]

(1) Once the case is charge-sheeted and charges are framed by court, it is not possible to make altogether new allegations in the same case. However, a different / new case can be registered.

(2) As per legal provisions, where an offence is alleged to have been committed partly in one area and partly in another, the FIR can be registered in either area. Legally speaking, even if only a small part occurred in one area and a major part of the offence occurred in another area, the FIR can be lodged in the first area. Of course, if you feel that no part of the offence took place in Kolkata, then it is a different thing and you can show that in your defence evidence. At this stage, if the complainant has mentioned some incidents occurring in Kolkata, and there is prima facie evidence to support it, the police may act on that, but you can disprove that.

(3) If specific dates / times of the alleged incidents are not mentioned, then you can appropriately use them to your advantage in the cross-examination. Without actually seeing the detailed evidence produced by prosecution, it is not possible to comment whether or not the case is fit to be discharged by the courts. But, if you have been so advised by your lawyer who might have seen your detailed evidence, you can try for discharge.

(4) The court will judge the overall evidence, including the defence evidence adduced by you and the cross-examination conducted by you. If you feel that they are going to adduce false evidence, you can always confront them intelligently in cross-examination with the truth and expose their falsehood. Mother and father of your wife are interested witnesses, but there is no legal bar that conviction cannot be based on the evidence of the interested witnesses if such evidence is cogent and trustworthy and more so, if it is corroborated in material particulars by some independent evidence. But, ultimately, it is for the court to judge the evidence which has to analyse the evidence in detail.

(5) The court can rely on both oral and documentary evidence. Under law, there is no bar that only oral evidence (if reliable) cannot be made the basis of a conviction. It is not necessary and it may not practically happen in every case that documentary evidence should also be available in every case. It all depends on the nature of the case and the factual matrix of the individual case. There is no hard and fast rule.

(6) No doubt, there may be some corrupt judges, but not all judges are corrupt. There are a large number of very honest judges. Moreover, to use your own argument, if wife’s side can corrupt a judge, husband’s side may also be doing it. So, you cannot generalise like that. Have faith in the court. Do not presume so many unnecessary things on the basis of rumours, when apparently you have not even experienced your own case in the court. Try you best in the case and engage some good lawyer to defend you.

     

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Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.

[Crusader of the world]

Thanks a lot for your precise clarification Dr. Ashok. There are no evidences attached with the chargesheet. When I confronted IO about the nature of investigation he made to arrive at chargesheet, he appeared clueless and said that opposite party has not given any evidences to IO. But he is bound to file chargesheet otherwise opposite party may appeal for reinvestigation or private complaint again if IO filed NIL report. It means that he has filed the chargesheet without any investigation. What is the logic of such action??

Is it possible that opposite party adduces more evidences or witnesses now after the submission of final report?? Is it allowed as they have not been considered in the preparation of final report?

Does judge/court actually go through the complainant’s petition, FIR, final report and specifically our reply with documentary evidences before arriving at any conclusion??? WHat is the reality?? In a 498A case in Kolkata, judge has announced conviction on mental cruelty ground even when the complainant and her witnesses utterly failed during cross and lies exposed.

I have already secured Anticipatory bail in 498A/406 ongoing case which has been converted to regular bail as I surrendered to court. Now if I get convicted in the Trial before magistrate, then should I require to take fresh bail again before appeal at higher court???? If Yes, then may I have to face jail till the bail is granted after the date of conviction order??? Or the bail is instantly granted without custody order?? Is it same also in case of high court and supreme court appeals that I need to renew bail every time before each appeal? Is there any chance that I may face jail unless all options exhausted in Supreme Court??

[Dr. Ashok Dhamija]

Naturally, the trial court is supposed to go through all documents before convicting a person.

Once a case goes to the court as a police charge sheet, evidence is adduced in court by the public prosecutor and not by the private complainant. 

You are presuming too much. It appears that your trial is yet to start and you are thinking of getting bail after conviction and even filing appeal before Supreme Court! Do not strain your mind unnecessarily. It may take years for the trial to complete due to large pendencies in courts. Defend your case properly and engage a good advocate to take care of your case. By the way, bail after conviction is possible. Search Tilak Marg for articles / replies on that issue.

 

     

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Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.

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