BENGALURU: Getting maintenance through a court order does not amount to extortion, the Karnataka High Court said while quashing the extortion and other charges levelled by a man against his wife. “There cannot be an offence of extortion when the wife initiates proceedings for maintenance and the court concerned grants it.
Those are legal proceedings, pursuant to which the husband is legally bound to pay unless it is altered or modified by a superior court,” said Justice M Nagaprasanna while allowing the petition filed by the woman questioning the crime registered by her husband, who is from Mangaluru.
The court allowed both the petitions filed by the husband and wife questioning the crime and counter crime registered by each other in Mangaluru and Bengaluru in 2023 following a matrimonial dispute.
The petitioners were married in 2007 and their relationship strained in 2020 after the husband received a message through Facebook that his wife had a relationship with her ex-boyfriend.
Then the wife filed a complaint against her husband on charges of domestic violence and others. Later, the husband also filed a complaint against his wife including on the charges of extortion.