Prior Sanction U/S 188 CrPC Has To Be Obtained If Offence U/S 498A IPC Is Committed Outside India: Kerala HC

The Kerala High Court observed that if an offence under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is committed by the accused outside India, the matter would come within the ambit of Section 188 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The Court observed thus in a criminal miscellaneous case filed by the accused seeking quashment of the final report in a case before the Judicial First Class Magistrate under Section 482 of CrPC.

A Single Bench of Justice A. Badharudeen held, “In the instant case, it is perceivable that the entire allegations, which would attract offences under Section 498A of IPC alleged to be committed by the 1st accused is outside India, and the matter definitely would come with the ambit of Section 188 of Cr.P.C. Therefore, the present proceedings without obtaining prior sanction as contemplated under Section 188 Cr.P.C. is vitiated.”

Advocate Thomas J. Anakkallunkal appeared for the petitioner while Senior Public Prosecutor Renjit George appeared for the respondents.

In this case, the accused/petitioner was alleged to have committed offence punishable under Section 498A of the IPC. While canvassing quashment on the ground of want of sanction under Section 188 of the CrPC, the counsel for the petitioner read out the FI Statement of the defacto complainant containing the overt acts, whereby the prosecution alleged commission of offence punishable under Section 498A of IPC by the accused and invited attention of the Court that all the allegations warranting cruelty at the instance of the accused under Section 498A were alleged to have been committed when the defacto complainant resided along with him in Australia. It was further submitted that since entire overt acts at the instance of the accused, occurred in Australia, prosecution is vitiated for want of sanction.

The High Court in the above context of the case noted, “In a three Judge Bench of the Apex Court in Sartaj Khan v. State of Uttarakhand (2022 LiveLaw (SC) 321, 2022(2) : KHC 846 : 2023 Cr.LJ. 441 held that if the offence was not committed in its entirety, outside India, the matter would not come within the scope of Section 188 Cr.P.C. and there is no necessity of any sanction as mandated by the proviso to Section 188.”

While analysing what are the cases for which proviso to Section 188 of CrPC would apply, the Court held that when an offence is committed outside India- (a) by a citizen of India, whether on the high seas or elsewhere; or (b) by a person, not being the citizen, on any ship or aircraft registered in India, the offender may be dealt with in respect of such offence as if it had been committed at any place within India at which he may be found, where proviso to Section 188 of CrPC would apply and in such cases, previous sanction of the Central Government is necessary.

“At the same time, if part of the overt acts or at least one instance among the overt acts alleged to be committed in India, sanction under Section 188 of Cr.P.C. is not necessary in such cases”, it added.

Accordingly, the High Court allowed the petition and quashed the proceedings against the accused.

Cause Title- Darvin Dominic v. State of Kerala & Anr. (Neutral Citation: 2024:KER:41294)

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocates Thomas J. Anakkallunkal, Anupa Anna Jose Kandoth, Jayaraman S., and Litty Peter.

Respondents: SPP Renjit George and Advocate Luke J. Chirayil.

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