The Bombay High Court recently quashed a Section 498A IPC case filed by a judicial officer against her husband and his family. Justices AS Chandurkar and Jitendra Jain reviewed the case and noted that the FIR seemed to have been filed primarily as a response to the ongoing matrimonial conflict between the couple.
The judicial officer from Maharashtra had married her husband in February 2018 after meeting him through a matrimonial site. In her complaint, she alleged that after their marriage, her husband refused to engage in conjugal relations and that there were numerous disputes between them.
The complaint also mentioned an incident on June 7, 2023, where the husband and his brother allegedly entered her judicial chambers and pressured her to sign a mutual divorce petition. Later the same day, her in-laws reportedly did the same, which she claimed interfered with her judicial duties.
Based on these allegations, the judicial officer filed a police complaint on July 9, 2023, leading to an FIR under Sections 186 (obstructing a public servant), 353 (using criminal force to deter a public servant), 498A (cruelty), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. The FIR covered the period from October 1, 2018, to June 7, 2023.
Challenging the FIR, the husband and his in-laws petitioned the High Court for its quashing. The Court did not find evidence that the husband and in-laws had prevented the officer from performing her duties in the morning session of June 7. It also noted that the relatives did not enter the court hall but waited in the chamber, and the judicial officer left the court voluntarily.
The Court observed that there was no obstruction to her duties and that she continued to fulfill her official responsibilities on that day. It also noted that there was no evidence of force used by the husband to prevent her from performing her judicial role. Additionally, the Court determined that the issues between the complainant and her in-laws did not amount to an offence under Section 498A of the IPC.
With these findings, the High Court quashed the FIR against the husband and in-laws.
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