Solitary trivial incident may not be treated as cruelty making out offence under Section 498(A) of IPC- Madhya Pradesh High Court

Case Details:
Case No.: MCRC No. 4197 of 2020
Bench: Hon’ble Sanjeev S Kalgaonkar, J.

The Gwalior bench of the Hon’ble High Court Madhya Pradesh quashed a FIR against the petitioner lodged by the daughter-in-law of the petitioner. The Bench considered that the facts and circumstances of the case and has observed that the allegations relate to general and omnibus allegation of harassment.

The Court further observed that the inordinate delay in lodging the complaint also creates question mark on the veracity of allegations. Therefore, the FIR seems to be counterblast to the proceedings taken by son of the petitioner. In such a scenario, it is a fit case to invoke inherent jurisdiction by this Court. The FIR and the consequential proceedings being an abuse of process of Court deserves to be quashed in exercise of inherent powers under Section 482 of CrPC.

The Court relied on Chandralekha Vs. State of Rajasthan (2013) 14 SCC 374 and Kahkashan Kausar Vs. State of Bihar (2022) 6 SCC 599 and quashed the proceedings under Section 498A and other related provisions.