The Gujarat High Court has let off an 86-year-old woman charged with cruelty by her daughter-in-law in an FIR registered against her in 2016, observing that provisions of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code were being widely misused with an intent to harass or seek personal vendetta.
Noting that further proceedings would serve no purpose and only cause hardship to the octagenarian, Justice Sandeep N Bhatt quashed the FIR against the woman and observed that it is the duty of the courts to ensure that criminal prosecution is not used as “an instrument of harassment or for seeking private vendetta or with an ulterior motive to pressurize the accused or settle scores”.
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“….The current scenario in the society is that Sections of 498A are being rampantly misused by the complainants and in such cases, all the family members are roped in the complaint only with a view to harass the family members and the Hon’ble Apex Court has taken cognizance of such incidents in number of judgments,” the single-judge bench of the High Court remarked, reported Bar and Bench.
The case pertains to an FIR registered in 2016 against the woman, her son, the complainant’s husband, and a woman she accused her husband of having an alleged affair with. In the FIR, the complainant-wife alleged that she was being subjected to cruelty over dowry demands. She also stated that she was physically assaulted by her husband when she confronted him about having an affair with another woman.
The applicants moved the court seeking quashing of the FIR in 2017 with their counsel arguing that there was no specific allegation against the mother directly implicating her in the FIR.
The court observed in its verdict that the applicant, being the mother-in-law of the complainant, was wrongly implicated and that only general allegations were made against her.
“Even looking at the age factor and the fact that general allegations are leveled in the FIR only to make sure that she is roped in the FIR, continuing these proceedings will amount to abuse of process of law and no fruitful purpose will be served in continuing the same,” the court held.
Section 498A was introduced to the IPC in 1983 with the intent to safeguard a married woman from abuse by her husband or his family members. It carries a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 30,000.
(With inputs from Bar and Bench)