- 1 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:33723 CRL.P No. 6932 of 2025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 29TH DAY OF AUGUST, 2025 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SACHIN SHANKAR MAGADUM CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 6932 OF 2025 BETWEEN: SRI. VISHNUVARDHANA REDDY S/O LATE SUBBAREDDY GODEHAL, AGED ABOUT 42 YEARS, R/AT FLAT NO.84, H.NO.8-2-403/B/B/4, 1ST FLOOR, CREATIVE CASTLE APARTMENT, ROAD NO.4, BANJARA HILLS, KHAIRTABAD, HYDERABAD, TELANGANA - 500 034. ALSO R/AT FLAT NO. 303, 'VANDANA SAROVAR', 80 FT. HSR-BDA COMPLEX ROAD, JAKKASANDRA, KORAMANGALA 1ST BLOCK, BENGALURU - 560 034. …PETITIONER (BY SRI. PAVAN M, ADVOCATE) AND: 1. KUM. NYRA VISHNUVARDHAN D/O NAYANA VISHNUVARDHAN REDDY, AGED ABOUT 4 YEARS, REP BY M/G MOTHER SMT. NAYANA L DESHI. 2. SMT. NAYANA L DESHI, W/O VISHNUVARDHAN REDDY, Digitally signed by SHARADAVANI B Location: High Court of Karnataka - 2 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:33723 CRL.P No. 6932 of 2025 AGED ABOUT 43 YEARS, BOTH ARE R/AT FLAT NO.202, VANDANA SAROVAR, 80 FT. HSR-BDA COMPLEX ROAD, JAKKASANDRA, KORAMANGALA 1ST BLOCK, BENGALURU - 560 034. …RESPONDENTS THIS CRL.P IS FILED U/S 482 OF CR.P.C (U/S 528 BNSS) PRAYING TO QUASH THE ENTIRE PROCEEDINGS VIDE CRL.MISC.NO.80/2024, ON THE FILE OF JMFC (TRAFFIC COURT IV), BENGALURU CITY, AT BENGALURU, FOR THE OFFENCE P/U/S 12 OF PWDV ACT, VIDE AT ANNEXURE-A AND WHEREIN THE PETITIONER HEREIN IS ARRAIGNED AS RESPONDENT. THIS PETITION, COMING ON FOR ADMISSION, THIS DAY, ORDER WAS MADE THEREIN AS UNDER: CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SACHIN SHANKAR MAGADUM ORAL ORDER This petition is filed by the husband seeking quashing of the proceedings pending in Crl.Misc.No.80/2024 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate of First Class (Traffic Court–IV), Bengaluru City, for the offence and reliefs under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (for short, “the Act”). - 3 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:33723 CRL.P No. 6932 of 2025 2. The respondent/wife has instituted an application under Section 12 of the Act seeking a protection order under Section 18, residence order under Section 19, and monetary relief under Section 20 of the Act. In her application, the respondent/wife has alleged that the petitioner/husband, who is employed as Associate President at Kotak Mahindra Bank and is drawing an annual salary of approximately ₹35,00,000/-, owns residential property, agricultural land, and derives substantial income from such assets. It is alleged that, despite having sufficient means and steady employment, the petitioner has intentionally and deliberately neglected to maintain the respondent/wife. 3. The petitioner seeks quashing of the proceedings on the ground that the allegations made by the wife are bald and unsubstantiated. It is contended that, in the absence of prima facie documentary evidence in support of the allegations, continuation of the proceedings before the learned Magistrate would be an abuse of the process of law and, therefore, liable to be quashed. - 4 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:33723 CRL.P No. 6932 of 2025 4. On a careful consideration of the pleadings and the scope of Section 12 of the Act, this Court is of the view that the strict standards of prima facie evidence, as applied in criminal trials, cannot be imported into proceedings initiated under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The Act is a special social welfare legislation intended to provide prompt, efficacious, and inexpensive remedies to women who are victims of domestic violence. Its primary objective is to secure protection of women from physical, emotional, verbal, economic, and psychological abuse within the domestic sphere, and to ensure their right to reside in the shared household as well as to obtain appropriate monetary and other reliefs. 5. The legislative intent underlying Section 12 is to enable an aggrieved woman to approach the jurisdictional Magistrate and seek immediate protection and reliefs without being compelled to undergo the rigours of a full-fledged criminal trial at the threshold. The provision is designed to safeguard the dignity, safety, and sustenance of women in domestic relationships, and to prevent their continued exposure to - 5 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:33723 CRL.P No. 6932 of 2025 violence or neglect. Proceedings under Section 12 are therefore not to be viewed through the same prism as prosecution for penal offences; rather, they are remedial and preventive in character. 6. Merely because the petitioner/husband has instituted proceedings seeking dissolution of marriage does not, in itself, furnish a ground to quash the wife’s application under Section 12 of the Act. The learned Magistrate, upon examining the allegations in the application, has taken cognizance and issued process in accordance with law. At this stage, there is no compelling ground for this Court to interfere with the order of cognizance. 7. Without expressing any opinion on the ultimate merits of the rival claims, this Court is of the considered view that the proceedings initiated by the wife under the beneficial provisions of the Act cannot be lightly scuttled at the threshold on the plea of insufficiency of documentary evidence. The judgment relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner does not advance the case of the petitioner in the facts and circumstances presented herein. - 6 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:33723 CRL.P No. 6932 of 2025 Accordingly, this Criminal Petition is devoid of merit and stands dismissed. Pending interlocutory applications, if any, also stand disposed of. Sd/- (SACHIN SHANKAR MAGADUM) JUDGE HDK List No.: 1 Sl No.: 20 CT: BHK