APPLN/1666/2025 of PANKAJ BHAURAO DHONE AND OTHERS Vs THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANOTHER on 2 November 2026

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

BENCH AT AURANGABAD

74 CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1666 OF 2025

Pankaj Bhaurao Dhone And Others

VERSUS

The State Of Maharashtra And Another

…..

Mr. D. U. Manwatkar, Advocate for Applicants.

Mr. V. M. Lomte, APP for Respondent – State.

Mrs. Vanita Sangole h/for Mrs. Shaikh Afreen, Advocate for Respondent No.2.

…..

CORAM : SUSHIL M. GHODESWAR, J.

DATE : 2 NOVEMBER, 2026

PC:

1.

Vide order dated 24 November 2025, this Court has already dismissed the instant application as withdrawn insofar as applicant Nos.1

to 3 are concerned. The renaming applicants, i.e., applicant Nos.4 to 7, are relatives of applicant No.1. Applicant No.4 is the sister-in-law, applicant No.5 is the mother-in-law, applicant No.6 is the younger sister-in-law and applicant No.7 is the husband of applicant No.6. All the applicants admittedly reside at different places and were not residing with the informant and applicant No.1 at the relevant point of time. They have been implicated in the instant crime on account of their relationship with applicant No.1.

2.

Perusal of the contents of the FIR discloses that respondent No.2

Kiran Kawre

married applicant No.1 on 28 February 2024 and, after the marriage, she started residing with applicant No.1 at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The dispute between them seems to have arisen in respect of the investment to be made for the purpose of establishing a pharmaceutical company. There are no specific allegations against the applicants, pointing out any specific date and event as regards ill-treatment meted out to respondent No.2. All the allegations against applicant Nos. 4 to 7 are found to be vague and omnibus.

3.

At this stage, it would be apposite to refer to some judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in State of Haryana v.

Bhajan Lal, 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335, laid down the categories of cases in which the High Court may exercise its inherent powers to quash criminal proceedings to prevent abuse of the process of law and to secure the ends of justice. Further, in Geeta Mehrotra v. State of Uttar Pradesh, (2012) 10

SCC 741, K. Subba Rao v. State of Telangana, (2018) 14 SCC 452, and Kahkashan Kausar @ Sonam v. State of Bihar, (2022) 6 SCC 599, the Hon’ble Supreme Court emphasized the need to scrutinize the allegations made against the relatives of the husband in matrimonial disputes and observed that general and omnibus allegations, without specific allegations disclosing their individual involvement in the alleged offences, may not justify the continuation of criminal proceedings against them. In Kiran Kawre

the case in hand, the allegations against the applicants, therefore, need to be examined in the light of the aforesaid principles laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

4.

In view of the aforesaid discussion, it is found that the applicants have been implicated on account of their relationship with the husband of respondent No.2 and that the allegations do not disclose their specific involvement. Therefore, in order to prevent an abuse of process of the Court and to secure the ends of justice, the instant application deserves to be allowed and the criminal proceedings against the applicants deserve to be quashed and set aside. Hence, the following order: