"Decade-Old Saga Of Deceit": Karnataka High Court Directs Appearance Of Woman In Quashing Plea By Tenth Husband Booked U/S 498A IPC

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed a woman complainant who had made allegations of cruelty against her husband and his family members to appear before the court on Saturday and make her submissions.

A single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna directed the complainant to appear while hearing a petition filed by the husband and in-laws seeking quashing of the offences registered against them under sections 323, 498A, 504, 506 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code.

The court was informed that the woman has till now registered nine complaints/FIRs, against different persons alleging sexual harassment, and criminal intimidation and also for the offences punishable under Section 498A of IPC.

Upon inquiring, the Court was told that the present petitioner was the complainant's tenth husband and that complaints had also been registered against the previous nine husbands. The court in its order recorded “The saga of deceit from the hands of the second respondent is now a decade old.”

It then went on to record that initially, the complainant married one Manjunath and then registered a crime case against him in 2011 for an offence punishable under sections 498-A and 323 of IPC. A little thereafter she registered another crime against one Hanumesh for section 504, 506 (b) of IPC. The third crime comes against one Santhosh for offences under sections 376 and 420 and 504, 506 of IPC. The offence of rape is alleged as the accused had breached the promise of marriage.

The fourth crime was in 2017 for offences under sections 376 and 420, against Kumar Gaurav. The sixth crime again for the same offence in 2019 against one Manoj. The seventh crime in 2020 was again for the same offence against one Mohammad.

The eighth crime was again registered in 2020 against a policeman who had received the complaint from the hands of the petitioner for offences punishable under sections 323 and 376 of the IPC.

The ninth crime against one Abhishek was registered in 2021 for an offence punishable under 354, 417 of the IPC. The tenth crime is the subject crime, against the petitioner and all members of the petitioner's family. The allegations are against 498-A, 323, 504, and 506 of IPC.

Court noted the fact of the present case wherein the 1st petitioner (Viveka P K) got married to the complainant in a temple on 31-08-2022 and on 12-09-2022 they got their marriage registered.

On 15-09-2022 it is alleged that the husband abandoned the wife, and for the alleged stay of three days with the wife, the aforesaid offences were alleged not only against the petitioner-husband but also the members of his family.

Further, it was informed that four other crimes were registered against the petitioner on charges of extortion and trespass.

Following this the court said, “Prima facie it becomes necessary to observe that it is such frivolous cases and the abuse of process of law by such complainants have clogged the criminal justice system and have contributed to docket explosion.”

Observing that respondent 2 (complainant) has remained absent throughout, the Court said “Since the respondent in person is not present. I deem it appropriate to direct the respondent to appear and make submission. List on Saturday.”

Case Title: ABC AND State of Karnataka

Case No: CRL.P 1364/2023.

Appearance: Senior Advocate Murthy D Naik for Advocate VIKRAM RAMALINGAM R