Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has quashed a charge sheet against the alleged extramarital partner of a husband whose wife lodged a cruelty complaint against her husband under section 498A (cruelty by a husband or his relatives) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), saying the alleged partner of the husband is not a relative of the husband and section 498A of IPC shall not be attracted against her and thus, the charge sheet filed against her is illegal.
Offence registered, charge sheet filed against alleged partner without verifying, High Court noted
A bench comprising Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Vrushali V Joshi noted that prima facie, it appears that though the applicant (alleged partner) is not the relative of the husband of non-applicant No.2 (wife), the offence under section 498-A is registered against her and charge-sheet is filed against her without verifying, whether the offence under section 498-A will attracted against her.
According to law, charge sheet filed against alleged partner is illegal: High Court
“As the applicant is not the relative of husband of non-applicant No.2 (wife) 498-A of the Indian Penal Code shall not be attracted. As the charge-sheet is filed against this applicant, who is not the relative and only because allegations are made that the husband of the non-applicant No.2 is having extra marital affair with this applicant, the charge-sheet filed against her which is illegal, according to law. Hence, the criminal application is allowed,” a bench comprising Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Vrushali V Joshi said.
What was the case?
The couple got married in 2007 and a daughter was born out of the wedlock. The wife alleged that her husband is having extra marital affair with his alleged partner and because of the affair of her husband with his partner, he tortured her. Initially, the First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the husband and during the investigation, the statements were recorded. The cause of harassment by the husband was disclosed about the affair with his partner and therefore, the name of the partner of the husband was added and the chargesheet was filed against the partner of the husband.
The counsel representing the alleged partner of the husband stated that she is not the relative of the husband of the complainant wife, therefore, 498-A will not be attracted against her. The counsel, while praying for quashing of the charge sheet against her, further stated that she is a married woman and has been falsely implicated in this case.