Kochi, Nov 1 (IANS) The Kerala High Court has quashed a criminal case against a man under the IPC’s Section 498A (cruelty against married woman by husband or relatives) by his “wife”, holding that in the absence of records proving legal marriage between the parties, there can be no prosecution for cruelty against him or his relatives.
The case pertains to a marriage between the petitioner (husband) and the de facto complainant (wife), which was declared null and void by a family court in 2013 after finding that the wife’s prior marriage was subsisting and had not been dissolved.
The high court said that since the marriage has been declared null and void, then there is “no legal marriage in the eye of the law”.
“Thus it is emphatically clear that when there is no legal marriage, the woman’s partner did not attain the status of her husband and an offence under Section 498A of IPC would get attracted only against her husband or relative/relatives of her husband. Therefore, in the absence of a legal marriage as borne out from the records, no offence under Section 498A of IPC would get attracted against the partner of a woman or against the partner’s relatives since the partner without a legal marriage would not occupy the status of husband,” it held.
The complainant alleged that the petitioner subjected her to cruelty during their stay at the matrimonial house after marriage which was solemnised on November 2, 2009. The counsel for the man pointed out that there was no legal marriage subsisting between the parties for the prosecution of cruelty under Section 498A.
Based on this, the Court observed that an essential ingredient to attract an offence under Section 498A of the IPC is that cruelty must be committed by the husband or relatives of the husband.
“Here the petitioner/1st accused never stood on the status of a husband at any point of time, since the marriage was null and void from the very beginning and the same was declared as such, subsequently. Therefore, the prosecution case to the effect that the petitioner committed an offence under Section 498A read with 34 of IPC would not stand and accordingly, this matter would require quashment. As the result, this petition stands allowed,” the court ruled, quashing the criminal case and proceedings against the man.
–IANS
sg/vd
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BhaskarLive.in and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BhaskarLive.in We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BhaskarLive.in takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
