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We do not find any specific allegation against the appellants barring allegations of harassment, which are omnibus in nature. Under such circumstances, in our opinion, the High Court erred in law in sustaining the order passed by the Trial Court for summoning the appellants, the top court held
The Supreme Court has said that brother and sister-in-law of a man cannot be summoned by a trial court under Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code on the basis of 'omnibus nature of allegations' of harassment made in a dowry death case.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi set aside the Allahabad High Court's order which declined to interfere with the trial court's order to summon appellant Shivani and her husband Sanjeev Kumar.
On behalf of the appellants, it was submitted before the top court that the main accused persons, being the husband and the mother-in-law of the deceased, had been acquitted by the trial court but an appeal against the order of acquittal was pending before the High Court.
The offences related to unnatural death of a lady and allegations were made that it was a death resulting from cruelty inflicted on her for unlawful demand for dowry.
The FIR was registered alleging commission of offences under Sections 498A, 304B of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
In the charge-sheet, the husband and mother-in-law of the deceased woman were arraigned as accused but the investigating agency found no involvement of the present appellants in commission of the offence. Thus, they were not named as accused in the charge-sheet.
However, the trial court issued summons against the appellants on an application made by the informant, Akhilesh Kumar, who was the brother of the deceased.
"We have been taken through evidence. We do not find any specific allegation against the appellants barring allegations of harassment, which are omnibus in nature. Under such circumstances, in our opinion, the High Court erred in law in sustaining the order passed by the Trial Court for summoning the appellants," the bench said.
The bench allowed the appeals and set aside the HC's order.
"As a consequence, the order summoning them by the Trial Court in exercise of jurisdiction under Section 319 of the Code shall also stand invalidated," the bench ordered.
Case Title: SHIVANI APPELLANT v. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH & ANR
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