Dowry plaint loses significance if made after receiving divorce notice, says K'taka High Court

The Kalaburagi bench of the high court has said that a case of dowry harassment, cruelty loses its significance in case the complaint is made after receiving the divorce notice from the husband. Justice S Rachaiah said this while quashing the FIR registered against four persons.

The wife, a resident of Devadurg in Raichur district, had filed the complaint against her husband, in-laws and their daughter and son-in-law. The four petitioners moved the high court challenging the FIR.

In her complaint, the wife had claimed that certain cash, gold and household items were given as dowry at the time of her wedding in 2013. The husband was working in a private company at Pune while the wife lived at her matrimonial home at Solapur for three years. According to the complaint, she was not taken to Pune as she did not know how to speak Marathi or Hindi.

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The complainant further stated that after her in-laws insisted, she joined her husband in Pune but was asked not to call any relatives to Pune. One of the specific allegations in the complaint was that on December 22, 2018, the husband and the in-laws and others visited her house in Devadurg and assaulted her family members.

The court noted that till December 25, 2018, the wife had not lodged any complaint against the in-laws. Justice Rachaiah pointed out that the husband had filed the divorce petition on December 17, 2018, at Solapur Family Court.

“As a token of retaliation, the respondent No 2 (wife) filing a complaint against all the petitioners assumes greater significance. Therefore, the criminal case filed by the wife, in respect of cruelty, dowry harassment against the husband and in-laws loses its significance, in case the complaint is made, after receiving the divorce notice from her husband. Hence, it is a fit case to exercise the inherent jurisdiction to quash the proceedings,” the court said.