2nd ‘knot’ not cruelty to 1st wife

A woman, who deserts her husband and cuts off all ties with him, cannot charge him with cruelty when he remarries. Though remarrying before legally annulling the first marriage is  an offence and the husband can be punished for bigamy, he cannot be charged with cruelty towards his estranged first wife as the couple did not even keep in touch after the break-up, the Supreme Court observed.

A bench of justices Mukundakam Sharma and BS Chauhan upheld a sentence of two years awarded by a Kamrup trial court and, subsequently, the high court to a man accused of bigamy, but said the husband could not be charged with cruelty.

In 1993, the complainant had left her husband’s house to live with her parents and did not keep any contact with him. She initiated criminal action against him on learning that he had married another woman.

The SC said a case under Section 498A IPC (subjecting a woman to cruelty) cannot be registered against the husband.

 To establish the charge of cruelty, it has to be proved that the woman “was subjected to cruelty continuously or at least in close proximity to the time of lodging the complaint’’.

“Petty quarrels cannot be termed cruelty to attract the provisions of Section 498-A of the IPC,” the court explained.

The only evidence of cruelty that the subordinate courts found against the husband was that the complainant had to leave her in-laws’ home when she was pregnant. This finding may be “relevant for granting relief in a matrimonial dispute like divorce but cannot be used to bring a charge under Section 498-A IPC against the husband”, the apex court said.