‘Wife can’t level charge against hubby at whim’

A man or his relatives cannot be charged with causing cruelty to his wife unless his or his relatives’ conduct towards the woman is such that can “cause the woman to commit suicide”, the Supreme Court  has held.

The observation came in an SC order quashing a charge-sheet filed under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which relates to causing cruelty and harassment over dowry, against a man from Kerala who works in the Gulf.

The implication for courts trying cases under the section is to examine whether the complaints specify the allegations categorically.

The trial court had initiated action against Shakson Belthissor on the complaint of his wife, who was a widow from her first marriage and had two kids. Her marriage to Belthissor was in 1997.

In 2002, she filed an FIR against Belthissor saying that after marriage, conducted during his four-month leave from the Gulf, he stayed at her house for sometime before leaving for his place of work. For two-three months, he sent her money, spoke to her over the phone and sent her letters from Saudi Arabia. Her parents had given him a gift of Rs5 lakh, which her in-laws used to buy a house.

But, the FIR said, the in-laws started maligning her and spoke ill about her to Belthissor, who, believing his family members, stopped communicating with and sending money to her.

When she telephoned him, he “behaved without affection” and disconnected the phone, due to which she became “mentally weak”.
The FIR said that whenever he came on leave, he would not visit her house, but stay with his brother.

The bench said there was no prima facie case to attract a case of cruelty.