New Delhi: A Delhi court has discharged a man and six of his family members in a case filed by his wife, who had accused them of dowry harassment, cruelty, and sexual offences. The court held that the allegations were false, vague, exaggerated, and unsupported by any credible evidence, and that the complainant had approached the court not to seek justice, but with malice and a motive for vengeance. In an order dated Aug 14, Judicial Magistrate Shruti Sharma observed that the woman’s claims lacked medical records, proof of dowry transactions, or independent complaints to corroborate her allegations. “It appears that the complainant exaggerated actual facts and attempted to strengthen her case by levelling the gravest of allegations against all members of her husband’s family,” the court noted.The accused were represented by advocate Prateek Jindal of Tripaksha Litigation. The woman had accused her husband and six of his relatives—including her father-in-law and brother-in-law—of physical, mental, and sexual cruelty, dowry demands, unnatural sex, molestation, and even attempted rape. The case was registered on May 23, 2023. However, the court found the allegations to be sweeping and lacking in specificity, with no mention of dates, detailed incidents, or credible supporting material. It also criticised the tendency to implicate entire families in such cases, calling it an abuse of legal provisions that has been consistently frowned upon by higher courts.“The sweeping nature of these allegations, particularly the trend of implicating all male members under serious offences such as IPC Sections 498A (cruelty to a married woman) and 354 (assault with intent to outrage modesty), points towards a misuse of the law,” the court observed.It further stated that cruelty under Section 498A must be so severe that it endangers the woman’s life or drives her to suicide. “Marriages fail for several reasons; however, giving matrimonial disputes a colour of a criminal offence is a far-stretched interpretation of Section 498A, which is not in consonance with the intention of the legislature,” the judge said.Regarding the molestation allegation against the brother-in-law, the court termed it an afterthought, aimed at falsely implicating him. It also discharged the accused from the charge of misappropriating the woman’s stridhan (married woman’s property), noting that there was no evidence of entrustment or misappropriation.All seven accused, including the husband, have been discharged. The court’s ruling underscores the importance of scrutinising matrimonial complaints for substance and specificity, to avoid misuse of criminal provisions.
