Section 498A IPC Being 'Rampantly Misused' To Harass Husband's Family Members: Gujarat High Court Quashes FIR Against 86-Yr-Old Woman

Observing that there is a rampant misuse of Section 498A of IPC by complainants to harass family members of the husband, the Gujarat High Court has quashed an FIR against an octogenarian woman.  

Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt said the FIR will cause greater hardships to the 86-year-old and no fruitful purpose would be served if such further proceedings are allowed to be continued. The court must ensure that criminal prosecution is not used as instrument of harassment or for seeking private vendetta or with ulterior motive to pressurise accused or to settle the score, the bench added.

“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 court said.

In the FIR registered in 2016, the octogenarian and her son were accused by the latter's wife of demanding dowry and harassment.  The situation worsened due to the husband's alleged extramarital affair, leading the complainant to separate from her in-laws. The complainant said that she faced physical abuse from her husband when she confronted him about the alleged affair. Consequently, she filed an FIR against her husband, the in-laws, and the woman involved in the alleged illicit relationship.

The applicants approached the court in 2017 for quashing of the FIR. The father-in-law of the complainant died during the pendency of the proceedings.

Advocate Yogini H Upadhyay, representing the applicants, argued that there were no substantial allegations directly implicating the present applicant in the FIR. The majority of the allegations were directed at other accused individuals, she said. It was further contended that the applicant, being an elderly woman of 80 years at the time of filing the application, would face undue harassment from the continuation of criminal proceedings, particularly after the demise of her husband.

The court said the main allegations under Sections 498(A), 323, and 114 of the IPC, read with Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, are are prima facie not made out against the elderly woman as general allegations have been made against her and main allegations are alleged against other accused.

It observed that the applicant, being the mother-in-law of the complainant, was wrongly implicated .

“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 added.

While quashing the FIR qua the 86-year-old woman, the court said the prosecution can proceed with the trial against rest of the accused.

Case Title: Jyantilal Vadilal Shah & 1 Other(S) Versus State Of Gujarat & 1 Other(S)

Case Citation: 2023 Livelaw (Guj) 106

R/Criminal Misc. Application No. 7061 Of 2017

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