BENGALURU: The settlement arrived at for the purpose of annulment of marriage cannot mean that all articles that form ‘streedhan’, that the wife carries to the matrimonial house, can be retained by the family of the husband, the Karnataka High Court said. Failure to return streedhan would become criminal breach of trust, the court said.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by Ganesh Prasad Hegde and his parents from Mumbai, challenging criminal proceedings initiated against them by his wife Surekha Shetty, a city resident, for not returning her streedhan of Rs 9 lakh.
“None of the submissions made by the counsel appearing for the petitioners is tenable, as the undisputed fact is that streedhan of Rs 9 lakh was paid to the petitioner and his family, and the amount retained by them would necessarily be a matter for trial against the petitioners for offence punishable under Section 406 IPC, and it is for the petitioners to come clean in the trial,” the court said.
In December 2007, Hegde filed a divorce petition on the ground of cruelty against his wife, which came to be dismissed. In February 2009, the petitioners raised a demand that streedhan of Rs 9 lakh which was paid, be returned with interest at 9% per annum, beginning October 1998. When the petitioners failed to pay the amount, Surekha registered a private complaint in 2009 before the magistrate in Bengaluru, alleging criminal breach of trust. This was challenged before the HC by Hegde and his parents, who filed a criminal petition seeking quashing of proceedings.