look news india
Mumbai: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has refused to consider the husband's girlfriend as an accused in a case of domestic violence against the wife. According to the High Court's observation, the definition of husband's relatives under IPC 498-A does not include the husband's girlfriend.
The High Court said that Section 498, which deals with domestic violence, defines who can be considered a relative of the husband. The husband's girlfriend does not fall in the category of relatives of the husband. Therefore, she cannot be prosecuted under this section.
In this case, the wife has filed a case of domestic violence against her husband. In this, she claimed that she is being harassed due to her husband's extramarital affair and she has also accused the woman with whom her husband had an extramarital affair. The police have registered a case and filed a charge sheet against the woman who is said to be the husband's girlfriend. The petitioner woman challenged this charge sheet in the High Court.
A bench of Justices Vibha Kannan Kanwadi and Vrushali Joshi said that Article 498A criminalizes domestic violence against a wife by her husband or his family members. It provides for imprisonment of up to three years and fine. However, in this case, the applicant woman does not fall under the definition of a relative of the husband. Therefore, Section 489 cannot be imposed against her.
The high court also held that the chargesheet in the case was illegal as it relied on allegations of extramarital affair and not on the legal definition.
A woman working in an educational institution in Chandrapur was accused in a domestic violence case along with her husband and other relatives. The petitioner woman argued that the section can be applied only on the husband and his family and the allegations leveled against her are made out of malice due to her relationship with the accused husband in the case.
The High Court cancelled all proceedings in the Chandrapur court against the petitioner woman.
