High Court quashes case against disabled in-laws over false abuse charges

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, July 20

More than seven years after a woman accused her in-laws of physically abusing and beating her from time to time, the Punjab and Haryana High has imposed Rs 1 lakh costs on her before quashing the FIR.

Justice Nidhi Gupta ruled the falsehood of the allegations was evident from the fact that the in-laws were admittedly 100 per cent permanently disabled.

Justice Gupta asserted the petitioners were even unable to walk. Accomplishing day-to-day functions for them would cause extreme hardship to them “what to talk of abusing the complainant”. As such, the court had no hesitation in stating that the opposite was true “inasmuch as evidently it is the complainant who has inflicted torture and abuse upon the petitioners”.

The FIR, in the matter, was registered in May 2017 for subjecting a married woman to cruelty under Sections 498-A of the IPC at a police station in Jhajjar district. Justice Gupta asserted its perusal revealed that the allegations against the father-in-law were that he “runs to beat” the complainant and “hits with a stick” on her back.

But the medical certificate showed he could walk only with the aid of crutches. “As such, there is no question of the petitioner running to beat the complainant or even hitting her with a stick as such an act would likely cause him to fall.”

The mother-in-law’s certificate showed she was bound to a wheelchair and her lower limbs were completely non-functional. “In such a situation the allegation of the complainant that the mother-in-law dragged her to the courtyard by holding her by the hair and slapped her is shocking and on the face of it blatantly untrue,” Justice Gupta asserted.

In her detailed order, Justice Gupta asserted the court found the present case to be one “where a manifestly frivolous, vexatious, and ill-intended proceeding has been inflicted upon the petitioners. Such a practice amongst casual complainants needs to be discouraged”.

Justice Gupta asserted the sanctity of law, its legal processes, and its provisions were enacted to mitigate the suffering. Its blatant misuse as a tool for setting personal scores could not be allowed.

“In the present case, the impugned FIR is a gross abuse of the due process of law. As such, as a reformative, punitive, and deterrent measure, the complainant is directed to deposit exemplary costs of Rs 1 lakh before the illaqa magistrate/trial court, within four months.”

Before parting with the case, Justice Gupta said the amount would be disbursed to the in-laws in equal shares. Failure to comply with the direction within the stipulated period would lead to initiation of appropriate proceedings against her by the illaqa magistrate/trial court.