Indian Penal Code, 1860
Sections 380 & 454—Quashing of FIR—Prayer for—FIR was lodged on the basis of a complaint filed by father-in-law of the petitioner for allegedly committing offences of house trespass, house breaking and theft in the matrimonial house in which she resided at post her marriage—Petitioner had benefit of a protection order when the allegation of a criminal trespass has been made and which was also later confirmed by the dismissal of appeal filed by the husband—Incontrovertible legal right of petitioner to reside in the shared household erodes the very basis of offences as alleged—FIR was lodged in order to retaliate and as a counter blast to the petitioner having sought entry into the matrimonial on the basis of protection order—Proceedings were maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive to pressurize the accused on account of matrimonial discord—Entry of petitioner into her matrimonial home is a matter of legal right and secured by a protection order—Petitioner is entitled to exercise her legal right—Complaint, on the basis of which the FIR has been registered seems to be clearly vexatious, mala fide, with no legal basis, and made only to pressurize the petitioner due to the serious marital discord—FIR quashed as prayed for. [Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, Section 12; Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, Section 482]
[Paras 9 to 16]
Sections 442, 443 & 445—Offences of house trespass, house breaking and lurking house trespass—Proof of—House trespass (Section 442 IPC) involves criminal trespass (Section 441 IPC) which in turn requires a categorical intent to commit an offence and entry into property that is in the possession of another or even a scenario where one lawfully entered their property but unlawfully continued to stay in the said property—Petitioner had an undeniable right to be reside in the shared property and had obtained a protection order under the Domestic Violence Act—Question of property being in possession of another does not arise, nor can such an intent be imported and insinuated—If the offence of house trespass is not made out, then ipso jure, the offence of house breaking would also be not made out as defined under Section 445 IPC neither would lurking house trespass under Section 443 of IPC.
[Paras 10 & 11]