Don't rope in kin of accused in dowry cases, says SC
The bench said criminal proceedings are not normally interdicted by us at the interlocutory stage unless there is an abuse of process of a Court.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has cautioned the courts from proceeding with the trial when the police had roped in all the relatives of husband as accused in dowry harassment cases.
Giving this ruling on Tuesday, a bench of Justi-ces S.A. Bobde and L. Nag-eswara Rao said the cou-rts should be careful in proceeding against the distant relatives in crimes pertaining to matrimonial disputes and dowry deaths.
Writing the judgment, Justice Rao said the relatives of the husband should not be roped in on the basis of omnibus allegations unless specific instances of their involvement in crime are made out.
In this case, the wife of K. Subba Rao of Telangana was married in 2008 and they were residing in USA. After a few years of marriage, the wife returned to India and filed a complaint alleging harassment by her husband and his family members, including the maternal uncles of her husband. She also complained of the kidnapping of her son by the husband.
The police filed charges-heet against the husband and the relatives. Their plea for quashing the FIR was rejected by the Hyderabad HC for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and their present appeal is against this judgment.
Allowing the appeal, the bench pointed out that except the statement that the appellants supported the husband who was harassing the wife for dowry and that they conspired with him for taking away his child to the US, nothing else indicating their involvement in the crime was mentioned.
The bench said criminal proceedings are not normally interdicted by us at the interlocutory stage unless there is an abuse of process of a Court. This Court, at the same time, does not hesitate to interfere to secure the ends of justice. The Courts should be careful in proceeding against the distant relatives in crimes pertaining to matrimonial disputes and dowry deaths. The relatives of the husband should not be roped in on the basis of omnibus allegations unless specific instances of their involvement in the crime are made out.
On an overall consideration of the contents of the charge sheet, supplementary charge sheet and the submissions made on behalf of the appellants “we are of the opinion that a prima facie case has not been made out against the Appellants for proceeding against them under Sections 498 IPC” and quashed the proceedings.