Neighbour not family, can’t be prosecuted for cruelty in matrominal case, rules Karnataka High Court

Justice M Nagaprasanna was on January 6 dealing with the plea filed by a woman, who is the neighbour of the estranged couple, and was booked under the provisions of cruelty and held that she “would not fit into the definition of family as is obtaining under the provision”.

Background

The woman filed a plea against the proceedings in which she was chargesheeted under Sections 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC.

The petitioner was the neighbour of a couple who got married in 2006, and following the matrimonial dispute, the wife registered a complaint of cruelty against the husband.

Following the complaint, the police filed the chargesheet in the case and issued a summons against the neighbour; therefore, she approached the high court.

The counsel appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Chandan K, submitted that she has no role to play in the family of the other accused.

He further argued that the petitioner is a neighbour, and the only allegation against her is that she has instigated the husband to behave in a particular manner; therefore, developing an axe to grind, the petitioner has been arrayed as an accused in the case at hand.

Representing the prosecution, advocate K Nageshwarappa argued that the petitioner was the reason for all the behaviour of the husband and therefore, the petitioner should also stand trial and come out clean in the same.

Observations

1. The name of this petitioner is nowhere found except contending that she has instigated the husband to torture the wife; otherwise, the petitioner would not fit into the definition of family as is obtaining under the provision, i.e., under Section 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the IPC.
2. A stranger cannot be drawn into the proceedings for offenses under Section 498A of the IPC, between the husband and wife, or the family members.
3. Permitting further proceedings against this petitioner would become an abuse of the process of the law and result in a miscarriage of justice.
4. Siting from the apex court’s Ramesh Kannojiya and another v. State of Uttarakhand and another decision, the high court said that neighbours of the husband’s family are not relatives of the husband and cannot be implicated for offences under Section 498A of the IPC.