Some women initiate Section 498A cases against husband and his family to wreak vengeance: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Thursday observed that wives involved in matrimonial disputes often initiate criminal proceedings against husband and his family members merely to wreak vengeance. .Justice A Badharudeen opined that courts ought to be especially mindful when considering cases involving allegations under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty). "It is noticed that in matrimonial disputes, in order to wreak vengeance against the husband and relatives of the husband, certain wives initiate criminal proceedings on the strength of vague and omnibus allegations against the parents, sisters, brothers and other relatives of the husband with ulterior motive to put them under the veil of prosecution involving non-bailable offences and to face the ordeal of criminal prosecution and trial by the parents, sisters, brothers and other relatives of the husband, so as to malign and defame their image in the society. In such cases, it is the duty of the court to analyse materials available when quashment is sought whether the allegations specifically state anything dealt under Section 498A so as to prosecute the accused for the said offences, by subjecting themselves for trial", the order stated.The Court further said that when prima facie there are no specific allegations to warrant the case going to trial, the High Court shall quash such cases by invoking its power under Section 482 of CrPC. "At the same time, when specific allegations pointing out the overt acts which would attract the offence under Section 498A could be seen, prima facie, from the prosecution case, such cases shall not be quashed," the Court added. .The Court made the observations while considering a plea moved by a woman (the petitioner) to quash the proceedings initiated against her under Section 498A. The petitioner contended that as per the first information statement given by her daughter-in-law, the only allegation against her was that she was a mute spectator to the cruelty meted out by her son to the daughter-in-law. The petitioner cited the judgment of the Supreme Court in Achin Gupta v. State of Haryana to argue that in 498A cases, courts must refrain from adopting a hyper technical approach and should, instead, appreciate the material in the context of each case. However, the daughter-in-law opposed the plea before the High Court arguing that the petitioner had subjected her to cruelty demanding more dowry. The public prosecutor too objected to the petition and pointed out that the statements of the daughter-in-law's parents contained specific allegations of cruelty..The Court noted from the prosecution records that there were only omnibus allegations against the petitioner and that the statements by the daughter-in-law's parents can only be seen as hearsay. The Court opined that this fact alone would be sufficient reason to quash the criminal proceedings.Therefore, it allowed the petition. .The petitioner was represented by advocates KR Vinod, MS Letha, KS Sreerekha, and Nabil Khader.Senior Public Prosecutor Renjith George represented the State.The defacto complainant (daughter-in-law) was represented by advocates George Mathew and Sunil Kumar AG.