The Madhya Pradesh High Court has fined a woman ₹1 lakh for misusing the legal process by continuing a criminal case against her ex-husband and his family, even after they reached a settlement and got divorced by mutual consent.
The Court noted that the woman had already received a settlement amount of ₹50 lakh from her former husband. Despite this, she refused to withdraw the case she had filed against him and his family.
The man and his relatives had filed two petitions — one to cancel the FIR registered in 2018 based on the woman’s complaint, and another challenging the charges framed by the trial court. They were accused of causing miscarriage without consent, cruelty, and other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The petitioners argued that after the divorce decree was granted, the woman was supposed to withdraw the case. However, she claimed she could not withdraw the Section 313 IPC charge (non-consensual miscarriage) as it is a non-compoundable offence.
The Court, while allowing both petitions, referred to Supreme Court rulings stating that continuing criminal proceedings after a mutual settlement is considered misuse of the law.
On the Section 313 allegation, the Court observed that the woman had a legal medical termination of pregnancy in 2009 from a reputed hospital. It found it unreasonable to treat it as a case of forced miscarriage after more than 12 years.
Regarding the cruelty charges under Sections 498A, 323, 506, 34, and 325 IPC, the Court said they were vague and lacked specific details. Since the couple had already divorced mutually, the woman was bound to withdraw such allegations but chose not to, showing bad faith.
The Court imposed the ₹1 lakh cost to discourage misuse of judicial proceedings.
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