Police not taking action and magistrate not considering private complaint

[Aastha Kaushik]

Hello sir,

I filed FIR for dowry harassment and other related issues in a local PS in my area and even after 5 months of lodging FIR, no chargesheet is filed. I accused four persons out of the family of 10 in my husband’s family(Husband, Father, Mother, Jethani(Main culprit) ). I even gave some recordings of threat that I have . Total marriage expenses were Rs 18 Lakhs including Rs 5 Lakhs Cash , but nothing was recovered by IO and IO produced my husband for anticipatory bail in front of magistrate and magistrate ordered for 1 day’s arrest. Throughout the post-FIR proceeding, IO and ACP were in complete favour of the accused and his family. I complained police authorities about 15-20 times to replace the IO,ACP but there was no use. Even in the reply of bail , ACP has declared people apart from my husband as innocent, though I have recordings and some proofs against them. Also, ACP submitted the report that “All cash and jewellery has been taken along by bride”. I don’t know what to do sir. My husband has given 3-4 lakhs to police to remove his family names post-FIR.

Sir, My lawyer has even filed private criminal complaint (To get the names of 3 accused removed by police) in the court but today magistrate rejected the same and said that “there is no provision in law to accept this. Apply for section 319 later on “ and he rejected the private criminal complaint. Sir, Can’t I file private criminal complaint before filing of chargesheet?? What is the Section in CRPC for that? My lawyer has not mentioned any section in the complaint, he just formulated a normal request and submitted it.

Sir, If the names won’t be brought back , then there won’t be any pressure on the accused and they will not give my money back .They are already adamant to dissolve the marriage. Sir, does stri-dhan includes all the items given by my family and items given by my husband’s family?

Sir, Is there any way to put pressure on police to re-investigate the matter by removing IO and ACP who have taken money from accused and giving one sided decisions?

Please solve the queries sir, I shall be greatly thankfull to you.

[Dr. Ashok Dhamija]

It appears that the investigation is still going on and the charge sheet is yet to be filed. Moreover, it has been mentioned by you that in the FIR the names of other relatives were mentioned as accused, though you have mentioned that the police is trying to save these relatives. Legally speaking, there can be only one FIR in a particular matter (i.e., for one cause of action). Since you have already filed one FIR, the Magistrate will not accept another complaint (such as a private complaint) in the same matter against some individuals, irrespective of whether or not there names are already included in the first FIR. Secondly, the Magistrate has correctly informed that after filing of the charge sheet, if some of the accused persons are found to be not charge sheeted, an application under Section 319 Cr.P.C. can be filed to include their names as accused persons and such application can then be decided on merits.

You may try to give all your evidence to the police (including recorded evidence) by some method which can show in future that you had in fact provided such evidence. For example, you can send the written information (of the evidence) by a registered letter with CD recording, etc., or you can send soft copies by email. If the IO does some mischief, then such proof can help you in future.

In addition, you can meet the senior officers of police and see if they can help you. In the worst situation, if you have proof that the I.O. is doing mischief, you can approach the high court (which has sufficient powers in this regard) for transfer of the case to CID or some other officer of the same district / city police. This can be done during investigation stage itself. Other (lower) courts may not be in a position to give directions to police during investigation stage. Of course, after investigation is over, the trial court will also get certain powers to directly take cognizance even against those accused persons who have not been charge sheeted by police.

Yes, stridhan includes all the items (such as gifts, jewellery, money, property, etc.) given to you by your family as well as items given by your husband’s family.

     

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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.

[Aastha Kaushik]

Thanks a lot for the reply sir.

Sir , suppose if police removes all accused other than husband from the chargesheet. Than can we file a private criminal complaint against accused dropped out , at that time ?

Sir, my lawyer said that even from husband police is trying to remove the sections 406 and 377. I have many a times requested police to take photos and bills , also urged police to take medical etc but they are delaying the process. Can i have medical from a govt hospital from my own sir and give to IO ? . If these sections are removed during investigation , is there any way to include these at the time of chargesheet filing sir ?

Sir, my father in law and mother in law are accused under 498a ,, jethani under 498a,406, husband under 498a,406,377.

[Aastha Kaushik]

Sir, you have mentioned that trial court has powers to take cognizance againt accused not included in the chargesheet. What are those powers sir ? What can we do to invoke them ?

[Dr. Ashok Dhamija]

I have already mentioned that there cannot be two FIRs in the same matter, which has arisen out of the same cause of action. Therefore, it may not be possible to file a separate complaint against the left-out accused persons after filing of charge sheet also. But, you can always move the court against dropping of their names from the charge sheet and/or also for inclusion of names of new accused persons, provided you have evidence to support the same.

Nobody can stop you from getting medically examined yourself and submitting the report to the police.

If the police is removing certain sections, you can try to convince the court at the time of charge framing, etc., though the role of the complainant (or her advocate) is limited during trial when the trial is based on police investigation. Alternatively, you may have to challenge the investigation, may be, before the high court.

When the police submits closure report after completion of investigation, the court has the power to reject the closure report and take direct cognizance against accused persons. This power is available with the Magistrate under Section 190 read with Section 173 of Cr.P.C. In the case of a closure report, the complainant is given a chance to oppose it. Likewise, if some persons are named as accused in the FIR, but their names are dropped from the charge sheet, the Magistrate can still take cognizance against them if there is sufficient evidence against them.

     

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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.

[Aastha Kaushik]

Thanks a lot for replies sir

[Monika Garg]

Respected sir,

I have a question regarding this. If incident of Section 377 IPC has happened one year ago. Is it maintainable in the chargesheet or due to lack of medical evidence, IO may remove the Section ?

Even if medical would be arranged by IO for me, there won’t be anything serious . So can I ask IO to include it in chargesheet?

How long would it be maintainable? I mean would it stay in lower,sessions and high court?

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