Husband's Girlfriend Is Not A Relative: Bombay High Court Dismisses FIR Against Her In Cruelty Case

Bombay High Court has recently dismissed a First Information Report (FIR) against a man”s girlfriend whose wife has filed complaint against her as an accused in a domestic violence case.

Hearing girlfriend”s plea, a two-judge bench of the High Court, consisting Justices Anuja Prabhudessai and NR Borkar, observed that girlfriend is not a relative so she cannot be included in the cruelty complaint the woman raised against husband and his family members.

The couple got married in July 2016. The wife accuses that her husband and his parents put her through mental and physical cruelty. The woman claimed that her husband”s extra-marital relationship with the girlfriend resulted in the frequent quarrels between them. She added that he has received WhatsApp messages from his girlfriend and that he plans to marry her.

In December 2022, the woman registered FIR with Surgana police station, Nashik Rural. The cases has been registered under section 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), read with 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), India Today reports.

Citing Supreme Court”s 2009 verdict, the High Court observed: “living with another woman may be an act of cruelty on the part of the husband for judicial separation or dissolution of marriage but the same would not attract the wrath of Section 498-A (cruelty) of the Penal Code” on other woman, The Free Press Journal reports.

The bench further added that if allegations in the FIR has been proved entirety, it do not disclose any “cognizable offence” against her. In such situation, subjecting her to criminal prosecution will be “an abuse of process of law”, the court said.