Calcutta High Court Quashes Cruelty Case Filed By Wife Against Brother-In-Law After 18 Years Of Marriage
Srinjoy Das
25 Dec 2024 9:41 AM IST
The Calcutta High Court has quashed a case against a man accused by his sister-in-law of cruelty. Justice Shampa (Dutt) Paul noted that the allegations in the FIR were vague and did not directly point at the petitioner. She said:
"As seen from the allegations as made in the written complaint by the opposite party no. 2, it appears that there is no specific allegation against the present petitioner, who is the married sister-in-law (nanad) of the defacto complainant. The allegations are general in nature and the petitioner herein has been named only in the cause title of the petition under Section 156(3) of Cr. P.C. There does not appear to be any specific allegations against her in the contents of the said application under Section 156(3) Cr. P.C."
"The materials in the case diary also shows that the allegations are general in nature and the written complaint in the case has been filed after almost 18 years of marriage and permitting the case to proved against the petitioner herein, will clearly be an abuse of the process of law," she added.
The revisional application was filed to quash the impugned proceedings under Sections 498A/323/325/34 of the Indian Penal Code. The petitioner submitted that he is an Assistant Teacher in a Government School and the de facto complaint has been married to the petitioner's brother since 2006.
It was stated that the de facto complainant is a permanent resident of Krishnanagar, Nadia and the petitioner is a permanent resident of Chakdaha, Nadia being married at Chakdaha. The distance between the two places is about 50 kms.
Court noted that as seen from the allegations made in the written complaint by the opposite party no. 2, it appears that there is no specific allegation against the present petitioner, who is the married sister-in-law (nanad) of the defacto complainant.
The allegations were general in nature and the petitioner had been named only in the cause title of the petition under Section 156(3) of Cr. P.C. There do not appear to be any specific allegations against her in the contents of the application under Section 156(3) Cr. P.C.
It was held that the materials in the case diary also showed that the allegations are general in nature and the written complaint in the case has been filed after almost 18 years of marriage and permitting the case to be proved against the petitioner herein, will clearly be an abuse of the process of law.
Accordingly, the plea was allowed and the proceedings were quashed.
Case: Smt. Tanusree Das alias Tanushree Das -Vs- The State of West Bengal and another
Case No: CRR 2092 of 2023
Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Cal) 290
