Karnataka High Court summons woman who filed 10 criminal cases against 10 different men

The Karnataka High Court recently directed a woman who has filed ten criminal cases against ten different men, two of whom she married, to appear before it..Justice M Nagaprasanna directed the woman to appear before the Court on August 31 after a man approached the Court seeking quashing of a cruelty case registered against him and his family members.While going through the case papers, the Court realised that the woman seemed to be a serial litigant, and had filed ten criminal cases against ten different men between 2011 and 2022.The Court noted that the woman was made the second respondent in the present case, but she had failed to appear or make a representation through her counsel..“The 2nd respondent is the complainant. The saga of deceit from the hands of the 2nd respondent-complainant is now a decade old,” the Court said..It noted that the first case the woman had registered was in 2011 against one Manjunatha B and his family under Sections 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).Four years later, she registered a criminal complaint against one Hanumesha for criminal intimidation. That same year, she registered a complaint against a third man, one Santosh, alleging rape on the breach of promise of marriage.This trend continued and she filed a total of five cases for rape, two for cruelty, and three for molestation and criminal intimidation against ten men between 2011 and 2022..As per the latest complainant, the woman married the petitioner on August 31, 2022. She claimed that just three days after the marriage was registered, the petitioner allegedly abandoned her. The woman then filed a complaint of cruelty and criminal intimidation against the petitioner and his entire family..The Court noted that there were four cases of extortion, trespass etc pending against the woman herself. Further, the woman tried to file a complaint for professional misconduct against the Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner before the Bar Council of Karnataka. However, such complaint was disposed of.The Court said that the complaints filed by the woman were all frivolous in nature and an abuse of the process of law.“A perusal at the order sheet would indicate that the 2nd respondent appearing in person has remained absent throughout. Prima facie, it becomes necessary to observe that such frivolous cases and the abuse of the process of the law by such complainants have clogged the criminal justice system and have contributed to docket explosion. Since the 2nd respondent in person is not present, I deem it appropriate to grant one more opportunity to the 2nd respondent to appear in person and make her submissions,” the High Court said..Senior Advocate Murthy D Naik appeared for the petitioner.