BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka has granted liberty to a man to initiate proceedings against his wife for malicious prosecution or to initiate proceedings under Section 211 of the IPC for making false charges against him.
“Liberty is thus reserved to the husband for such action to be initiated in accordance with the law, if he so desires,” said Justice M Nagaprasanna while expressing concern over such frivolous and vexatious litigations clogging the criminal justice delivery system, where genuine cases lie in the cold storage.
The court passed the order on June 28 while quashing the proceedings initiated by the woman against her husband at Basavanagudi women’s police station in 2022 under Section 498A of IPC (cruelty) and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
After looking into the complaint, summary of the chargesheet, statements recorded in the case and the law laid down by the apex court, the high court said that it has come to the unmistakable conclusion that the complainant, in gross misuse and abuse of law, has set the criminal law into motion. Such frivolous cases have taken enormous judicial time, be it before the court concerned or before the high court, and have led to enormous civil unrest, destruction of harmony and happiness in society, the court said.
“It may not be that these would be the facts in every given case. The court is only concerned about frivolous and vexatious litigations clogging the criminal justice delivery system, where genuine cases lie in the cold storage. The complainant in this case has set the criminal law into motion in gross misuse and abuse of the process of law. Therefore, it becomes a fit case where the husband must be given liberty to initiate proceedings against the wife,” the court observed.
After coming in contact through an online matrimony website, the couple got married on May 29, 2020. Two months later, the husband left for the US, as his H1B visa was to expire on July 19, 2020. He applied for a visa for her, so that she could travel with him to the US.
He filed a petition seeking divorce in 2021 in Bengaluru and later a complaint against her. On February 3, 2022, she filed a complaint accusing her husband of suffering from a sexually transmitted disease.
The court, however, said that the medical examination disclosed that the husband has no history of disease or any other infection. Therefore, the allegation appears to be baseless, the court added.
