While quashing an FIR filed in Bombay, HC of Bombay said that now a days it has become common to put vague and false allegations against the husband and every member of his family. Division bench of Justice ZA Haq and Justice Amit Borkar of the Nagpur bench also added that it is necessary for courts to scrutinize those allegations whether it fulfills the requirements prima facie or not as there is tendency to implicate the family of husband.
As per the complaint, there were quarrels between the complainant and her husband where the complainant filed an FIR which was later compromised. Again the complainant filed a complaint in the women cell on April 28th, 2012 in the same police station. As the quarrels continued husband also filed a complaint on April 18th, 2012 against the parents and brother of the complainant.
The court said that cruelty as defined u/s-498-A consists of-
- Harassment against women
- Harassment shall be in relation to fulfill any unlawful demand, give any valuable security etc.
- Harassment may be even when there is any failure to fulfill any demand.
Also cruelty or harassment to the women can be mental or physical.
Sr Adv Mardikar argued that it is only to implicate entire family that the report is lodged against the applicants.
In the FIR it is nowhere stated that there was ever any demand from the husband’s family. The complainant and her husband are residing separately from each other and are away from each other’s day-to-day affairs. So even if the facts mentioned in FIR are accepted it does not fulfill the ingredients of section498-A.
Therefore the bench quashed the FIR and suggested for keen examination u/s-498-A
