‘Inherently improbable’: Patna High Court quashes cruelty case against in-laws who never lived with bride

The Patna High Court said that the trial court’s order of cognisance suffers from “non-application of mind”. (Image enhanced using AI)

Findings

• The factual position does not disclose any circumstance giving rise to cruelty attributable to the petitioners.
• The trial court’s order of cognisance suffers from “non-application of mind”.
• Continuation of the criminal proceedings against the petitioners would result in “grave miscarriage of justice”.
• This court finds that the allegations levelled against the petitioners, who are relatives of the husband, are largely “vague, omnibus, and generalised” in nature.
• Except for a broad narrative alleging harassment, the complaint does not attribute any specific role, overt act, or distinct instance of cruelty to any of the petitioners.
• The absence of material particulars assumes significance, particularly in matrimonial disputes where the tendency to implicate the entire family has been judicially noticed and deprecated.
• The Apex Court held that criminal law should not be permitted to be used as a weapon of harassment and that courts must be cautious and circumspect while dealing with such complaints.
• The allegations in the present case lack the requisite specificity to justify continuation of criminal proceedings against the petitioners.
• A further crucial and undisputed aspect of the case is the categorical admission of the complainant that she had been residing separately from the petitioners for nearly three years and had never shared a household with them.
• This admission strikes at the very root of the allegation of cruelty.
• This court is conscious of the settled principle that criminal proceedings ought not to be quashed at the threshold in a routine manner.
• However, where the allegations do not disclose the commission of any offence, the prosecution is founded on legally untenable grounds, and continuation of proceedings would amount to abuse of the process of law, interference by this court becomes not only permissible but imperative.

Background

• The case arose from a case registered in Begusarai, wherein the complainant alleged cruelty and other offences under Sections 85 (cruelty by husband or relatives), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 118(1) (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons) and 191(2) (rioting) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 against her husband and his relatives.
• According to the complaint, the complainant had married the co-accused at a temple in Begusarai.
• She alleged that after the marriage she was subjected to cruelty, caste-based abuse and physical assault by her husband and his family members.
• One of the allegations claimed that a relative attempted to press her neck with intent to cause harm.
• However, the complainant had been residing separately in a rented accommodation and had never lived with the petitioners, who were the husband’s relatives.

Arguments

• Advocate Vaishnavi Singh, appearing for the petitioners submitted that the criminal proceedings were a gross misuse of law, founded on vague, generalised and sweeping allegations without attribution of any specific act.
• The counsel argued that the complaint reflected a growing tendency to implicate all family members in matrimonial disputes, even when they had no role or proximity to the alleged acts of cruelty.
• Reliance was placed on multiple Supreme Court precedents cautioning courts against mechanical prosecution of in-laws in matrimonial conflicts.
• The counsel also argued that the complainant had failed to establish the existence of a legally valid marriage, as no decree dissolving her previous marriage was placed on record.
• Advocate Singh submitted that in the absence of a valid subsisting marriage, the very foundation of prosecution for matrimonial cruelty collapsed.
• Additional Public Prosecutor, Pradeep Narain Kumar supported the magistrate’s order and submitted that cognisance had been taken after due consideration of the materials available on record.