There must be a specific allegation that the accused had induced the informant to subscribe to the portal with an intention to cheat so as to make them liable: Karnataka High Court
The Karnataka High Court under Justice Hemant Chandangouda in Vijay Kumar & ANR And State of Karnataka(Writ Petition No. 29340 of 2017) dismissed a case against two workers of the service which was filed by a woman subscriber who was defrauded by a guy she met through a matrimonial website.
FACTS
The 2nd respondent lodged the FIR with the jurisdictional police alleging that she created a profile on the portal “Kannada Matrimony” database maintained by Matrimony.com. Kannadamatrimony of which petitioners – accused Nos.2 and 3 are the employees. It is further alleged that she came into contact with a person by name Amit Deepak through the portal who later asked her to transfer certain amount of money in his account. He kept asking for more and more money from the women by giving some or the other reason. The accused No.1 informed that his flight from Delhi has been cancelled and further sought for remittance of Rs.1,20,000/-. It is further alleged that when the woman insisted for whatsapp video call, the accused No.1 stated that he did not have facility on his phone and thereafter, the 2nd respondent after speaking with a close friend realized that she is being cheated by him for a sum of Rs 1,70,000. It is further alleged that the petitioner No.1 spoke to her and opined that accused No.1 is a good person and insisted the 2nd respondent to deposit a sum of Rs.3,700/- 4 towards subscription charges. The police registered the FIR for the offence punishable under Section 420 of IPC and Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, 2008. Taking exception to the same, the accused Nos.2 and 3 are before this Court.
FINDINGS
The only accusation made against the petitioners is that they promised to marry her with Deepak in exchange for a subscription fee of Rs. 3,700.
“Admittedly, the petitioners are staff members of the “Kannada Matrimony” portal, and the aforementioned sum of Rs. 3,700 was obtained as subscription fees. After signing up, the 2nd respondent [complainant] made contact with the first accused, who had a profile on the “Kannada Matrimony” portal. There is no particular allegation against the petitioners that they had an ulterior motive to defraud the complainant from the start, the court stated, save from the aforementioned claim.
According to the court, there must be a particular accusation that the accused coerced the informant into subscribing to the portal with the aim to defraud in order for the offence described in Section 420 of the IPC to be established.
Allowing the writ petition, the court said “The impugned FIR in Crime No.0182/2017 registered by the Basavanagudi Police Station, insofar as it relates to petitioners – accused Nos.2 and 3 is hereby quashed.”
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JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY VAISHNAVI SINGH