Man commits suicide 40 days after marriage, HC quashes dowry-harassment FIR against family

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has quashed a dowry-harassment FIR lodged on a complaint from a woman against the family members of her husband, who committed suicide barely 40 days after the wedding.

The court said the allegations made in the complaint were vague and not supported by any cogent evidence and it was a case of an abuse of the process of law.

"The complaint, when considered as a whole, does not reflect any act of harassment or cruelty," Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said in a judgment passed on Wednesday.

The court quashed the FIR lodged against the deceased's parents and sister for the alleged offences of cruelty inflicted on a married woman and criminal breach of trust, and discharged them from the case.

The order was passed on a plea filed by the woman's parents-in-law and sister-in-law seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against them in 2016.

"It is evidently a case of vague allegations and a clear case of abuse of power and it is not in the interest of justice if the present proceedings are permitted to be continued," the court said.

It further added that the allegations made in the complaint of dowry harassment were vague and not supported by any cogent evidence, and that the case merits quashing in the interest of justice.

The couple got married in March 2016 and started living in Pune. The woman's in-laws had claimed that soon thereafter, differences arose between the couple and the husband started living in a depressed, disturbed and frustrated state.

They had further alleged that the woman's family not only pressured her husband, but also threatened him to live with her under all circumstances.

They had claimed that they were terrorised by the woman's parents, who threatened to implicate their entire family in a false and frivolous case of dowry and domestic violence.

The petitioners had said the man, being mentally and physically harassed by the unwarranted acts and persistent threats extended by the wife and her parents to him, committed suicide on April 13, 2016, barely after 40 days of their wedding.

They had said that at the instance of her parents, the woman left the matrimonial home immediately after the cremation and later, took away her belongings from the rented accommodation.

The father of the deceased then filed a police complaint for a fair investigation to unravel the truth behind his son's suicide.

After two months, as a counterblast, the woman filed a complaint with the Crime Against Women cell against her in-laws, accusing them of inflicting mental torture on her on account of a demand for dowry, hatching a conspiracy, abetting her husband's suicide and spoiling her personal life.

The court, in its verdict, said it was an unfortunate case where the marriage did not survive even for 40 days and the husband committed suicide, resulting in sour relations followed by ugly litigation.

"It all (record) reflects that the deceased husband had friendship with some girl prior to his marriage and was unhappy and stressed about his marriage with respondent no.2 (complainant woman). Despite best efforts, the husband committed suicide barely within 40 days of marriage.

"It is a reverse case where the husband has died because of stresses faced by him after marriage and not otherwise," Justice Krishna said. PTI SKV RC