A second wife of a man is not entitled to file a complaint against her husband or family members of the husband for cruelty under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) since she is not recognised as a legally wedded wife, the Karnataka High Court recently ruled.
The Single-Judge bench comprising of Justice S Rachaiah held that if the marriage between the husband and wife is null and void, the offence under Section 498A cannot be attracted.
The Court said it clearly, “A complaint filed by the second wife against the husband and her in-laws is not maintainable.”
Hence, the Court set aside the conviction of one petitioner (Kantharaju) after determining that the complainant was the second wife of the petitioner and the marriage was, therefore, null and void.
The High Court further held, “The prosecution has to establish that the marriage of PW.1 (complainant) is legal or she is the legally wedded wife of the petitioner. Unless it is established that she is the legally wedded wife of the petitioner, the courts below ought to have acted upon the evidence of PWs.1 and 2 that PW.1 was the second wife. Once PW.1 is considered as second wife of the petitioner, the complaint filed against the petitioner for the offence under Section 498A of IPC ought not to have been entertained.”
The second wife alleged that she got paralysis after some years of the marriage. And the petitioner (husband) began to harass and mentally torcher her due to her health condition. She also alleged that his husband forcefully removed her from her matrimonial home and also threatened to set her on fire.
The petitioner argued that since the complainant is the second wife, the offence of cruelty can’t be taken into account and both the trial court and the appellate courts made a mistake in taking this fact into account.
The Court gave its judgment based on evidence and witnesses and also noted that it was an undisputed fact that the complainant was the second wife of the man.
Thus, the lower courts made mistakes in applying laws and principles at this aspect, the High Court said.
The Court ordered while acquitting the petitioner, “Admittedly, in the present case, the complainant in her evidence, PW.2 being the mother of PW.1 both have consistently deposed and admitted that, PW.1 is the second wife of the petitioner. Accordingly, the concurrent findings of the Courts below in recording the conviction requires it to be set aside.”
Advocate Chetan Desai represented the petitioner while Advocate Rahul Rai K represented the State.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/section-498a-ipc-karnataka-high-court-second-wife-cannot-complaint-husband-in-laws-cruelty
