The Calcutta High Court has dismissed a case filed by a wife against her husband under Section 498A of the IPC, accusing him of cruelty, three years after she had left their matrimonial home. Despite moving out in 2020, the wife filed a complaint alleging cruelty in 2023.
Justice Shampa (Dutt) Paul held: The allegations in both the cases arise out of the matrimonial dispute between the parties. It is further seen that since the year 2020, when she filed the first case, the complainant has left her matrimonial home and has now after almost three years initiated the present case on 13.04.2023. Accordingly in the interest of justice and to prevent abuse of process of law… the case is hereby quashed.
The current revisional application seeks the quashing of proceedings filed in 2023 under Sections 498A/323/307/34 of the IPC, which are pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Paschim Medinipur, on the grounds that it constitutes a second FIR regarding the same allegations.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the petitioner is already facing trial in a previous case, filed by the private opposite party no. 2 on 04.06.2020 under Sections 498A/323/506/34 of the IPC, based on the same allegations, and the trial in that case is already underway.
Referencing the Supreme Court case of Kapil Agarwal & Ors. vs. Sanjay Sharma & Ors., the Court observed that while multiple complaints based on the same facts are permissible, in this instance, the complaints were filed three years apart, with the wife having left the matrimonial home three years earlier. Consequently, the case was quashed.
