New Delhi: The Supreme Court has invoked the Constitution to quash criminal proceedings under IPC section 498A (mental cruelty against wife by husband and his relatives) initiated by a woman against her ex-husband six months after she obtained a divorce. Has used his omnipresent powers under Article 142.
The woman was married to Arun Jain in November 1996 and a daughter was born to them in April 2001. The husband left the matrimonial home in April 2007 and soon thereafter the wife initiated divorce proceedings, following which the marriage was annulled ex parte in April 2013. Six months after getting the divorce, the woman filed a complaint under Section 498A against the husband and his parents, citing mental cruelty.
High Court rejected the man’s petition
Based on the woman’s complaint, Delhi Police registered an FIR in February 2014 and filed a charge sheet in September 2015. After this the man moved the Delhi High Court to quash the criminal proceedings. When the Delhi High Court rejected his plea, the man, through Prabhjit Johar, moved the Supreme Court and argued before a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Augustine G Masih that this was a clear misuse of criminal law, because After considering all the aspects, a family court had annulled the couple’s marriage considering the quality of their marital life.
decision to quash criminal proceedings
Johar also brought to the notice of the court that the woman had also initiated proceedings under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 in 2008, a year after her husband left the house. The said proceedings were dismissed on merits by the trial court and the woman did not appeal against the decision of the trial court. Justices Nagarathna and Masih felt that there was no purpose in keeping the differences between the separated couple alive through criminal proceedings and hence decided to quash the pending criminal proceedings.
Exercise of power under Article 142
After examining some previous judgments on the narrow perspective in which the Supreme Court can exercise its power under Article 142, the bench determined that this is a case where the power is to protect the person from unnecessary harassment after divorce. Such use was necessary. Allowing the man’s appeal and setting aside the High Court’s decision not to entertain an appeal against the trial court’s decision, the bench quashed the FIR and subsequent proceedings under Section 498A of the IPC.
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