The Telangana High Court in its order dated July 14, 2022 observed that, the false implication of the relatives of the husband in matrimonial disputes based on general and omnibus allegations, if left unchecked would result in misuse of the process of law.
While this is not the first or the last time, courts have repeatedly taken a serious view of the trend of false implication of the relatives of the husband in matrimonial disputes, successive governments have failed to bring in any amendments whatsoever, that will create a deterrent amongst disgruntled wives before filing false cases.
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Case:
Parties got married in 2005 and according to the wife, her family had given a dowry of Rs 5 lakh in cash and 25 tulas of gold. She alleged that since the day of marriage, her in-laws started harassing her on one pretext or the other, and also suspected her fidelity.
The wife, in the yea 2013, filed Dowry harassment and Cruelty case against her mother-in-law, husband’s brother and his wife, under Section 498-A IPC and Sections 3 & 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act.
Additionally, she had also charged her brother-in-law of molesting her and therefore, he was booked under Section 354 IPC as well.
The woman alleged that he had expressed sympathy towards her and took her forcibly in his lap, tried to caress her and when she resisted and tried to run away, the accused and his wife gagged her mouth and mercilessly beat her.
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Defense by Petitioners
Learned Senior counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners are relatives of husband and they were all residing at different places. The defense submits that the woman made all the allegations against her husband, while other allegations were made backdated against other family members, when she stayed briefly in her in-laws’ home for 2-months in the year 2007.
Thus, all three accused moved the High Court seeking to quash the entire criminal proceedings.
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Telangana High Court
Going through the evidences and arguments on record, Justice A. Santosh Reddy of the Telangana High Court noted that the family members – mother and sister-in-law of the husband – were implicated by way of general and omnibus allegations and that there were no specific and distinct allegations against them.
Regarding the allegations of molestation against brother of the husband, the court noted that the only allegation against him was that he had expressed his sympathy towards the complainant and had caught hold her hand. The Court said prima facie the allegations did not make out or satisfy the essential ingredients of offence under Section 354 IPC and remarked,
She resisted the alleged incident that occurred prior to 28.02.2007. If at all there is truth in the allegations of the wife, so far as brother-in-law is concerned, she being a software Engineer would not have kept quite without taking any recourse from 12.06.2007 on which date she was alleged to have been molested by her brother-in-law.
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The High Court thus noted that all relatives of the husband – his mother, brother and brother’s wife had been roped in on the basis of omnibus allegations and without any specific instances of their involvement in the alleged offences.
The Court said that criminal proceedings deserved to be quashed to avoid the rigor of undergoing trial.
READ ORDER | Telangana High Court Quashes "General & Omnibus" Dowry, Molestation Charges Against Husband's Relatives
— Voice For Men India (@voiceformenind) July 26, 2022
▪️In 2013, Woman accused her Husband's brother of "molesting" her in 2007
▪️Brother-in-law had held her hand to express sympathy#498Ahttps://t.co/q8b2Sm5avk
WATCH:
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