Bombay Excessive Courtroom quashes dowry harassment case, flags misuse of Part 498-A 

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay Excessive Courtroom has put aside proceedings in opposition to a household of six in a dowry harassment case, terming the fees “frivolous” and “motivated”. The Courtroom highlighted contradictions within the complainant’s model and flagged severe flaws within the police investigation, asserting that continued prosecution would quantity to an abuse of the authorized course of. 

The case stemmed from an FIR registered by a girl who alleged cruelty and harassment for dowry after her marriage on January 28, 2024. She claimed she was pushed out of her matrimonial house inside two months and accused her husband and his members of the family of psychological and bodily abuse, together with a requirement for ₹20 lakh. 

Nonetheless, a Division Bench of Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Sanjay A. Deshmukh, after reviewing the chargesheet, discovered important inconsistencies within the criticism. The Courtroom famous that the complainant had suppressed her personal employment particulars — she was working as a senior government at a Pune-based medical health insurance firm — whereas accusing the husband and his household of harassment and monetary calls for. 

The Judges noticed that the couple had spent a part of their short-lived marriage on a honeymoon in Manali and that the complainant’s personal journey data and admission contradicted a number of of her allegations. 

“A incontrovertible fact that surprises is that it’s said that inside two days solely the mother-in-law began demanding an quantity of ₹20,00,000/- as dowry. She states that she was abused; pinching phrases got, she was requested to do the work in the home and was stored ravenous. It’s onerous to imagine then that she states that inside these two days even the sister-in-law began saying that the informant must be killed by urgent a pillow on her face,” the Bench mentioned, including, “The candidates are well-educated individuals and, subsequently, it’s onerous to imagine that inside two days the connection would go so bitter.”  

Criticising the police investigation, the Bench famous that the investigating officer didn’t confirm the allegations by visiting the matrimonial properties in Kharghar and Manmad. As an alternative, a panchnama was carried out on the complainant’s father’s home in Nanded with no significant corroboration of her claims.

“It is a traditional instance of misuse of Part 498-A,” the Bench declared. “These days even the police aren’t taking correct precautions and making applicable investigations in such instances. This angle is harmful as a result of real instances would undergo attributable to such apathy.”

The Courtroom additionally famous that lots of the statements recorded from the complainant’s household seemed to be “copy-paste” variations missing substance or impartial verification.

Quashing the felony proceedings, the Judges invoked their powers beneath Part 482 of the CrPC, reiterating that courts should intervene in instances the place prosecution seems to be pushed by vengeance or is manifestly groundless. 

“The establishment of felony proceedings with an ulterior motive can destroy lives,” the Bench famous, emphasising the necessity for warning in each submitting and investigating matrimonial complaints.