On the 22nd of July, the Karnataka High Court overturned the ruling of the lower courts and quashed the conviction of a 46-year-old man charged under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Court ruled that the complaint against the man was filed by his ‘second wife’, which rendered their marriage ‘null and void’ and therefore a case can’t be filed under Section 498A .
Notably, Section 498A aims to safeguard married women from abuse by their husbands or their spouse’s family members. Since the marriage was found illegal, the High Court set aside the conviction order passed by the lower courts.
The single-judge bench of Justice S Rachaiah asserted that the lower courts should not have accepted or entertained the charges as the complainant woman was recognised as the man’s second wife. On that basis, the alleged offence under Section 498-A of IPC was not maintainable.
The court said, “In other words, a complaint filed by the second wife against the husband and her in-laws is not maintainable. The Courts below committed errors in applying the principles and also the law on this aspect. Therefore, interference by this Court in exercising the revisional jurisdiction is justified.”
The case pertains to Kantharaju who is a resident of Vittavathanahalli in the Tumakuru district and his ‘second wife’. He had filed a Criminal Revision Petition before the High Court where the court addressed serious allegations against him.
According to the complainant, she was Kantharaju’s second wife. They lived together for five years and had a son together. However, she suffered from health issues and was paralysed which left her incapacitated. She claimed that as her health deteriorated, Kantharaju’s behaviour towards her changed dramatically. Later on, he began subjecting her to cruelty and mental torture. To come out of this situation, she lodged a complaint against him.
Following her complaint and trial proceedings, the Tumakuru Trial Court found Kantharaju guilty under Section 498A of the IPC. The verdict was pronounced on the 18th of January 2019. This court verdict was later confirmed by the Sessions Court in October 2019.
However, Kantharaju challenged the conviction and filed a Revision Petition before the Karnataka High Court, in the same year.
After a thorough examination, the High Court concluded that a second wife does not have the entitlement to file a complaint under Section 498A. As a result of it, the High Court set aside the earlier verdicts of the lower courts passed during January and October 2019.
According to the High Court verdict, the lower court should have considered the complainant as the second wife, as evidence suggested, unless the prosecution had established that their marriage was legal and they should have proceeded according to that.
The court said, “The prosecution has to establish that the marriage of PW.1 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 (complainant woman) and 2 (her mother) that PW.1 was the second wife.”
The High Court highlighted two Supreme Court rulings relevant to this case – the Shivcharan Lal Verma case and the P Sivakumar case.
Justice Rachaiah stated that the ratio of these two judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court clearly indicates that if the marriage between the husband and wife ended as null and void, the offence under Section 498A of IPC cannot be sustained.
Justice Rachaiah added that since the complainant’s mother admitted that the complainant was the second wife of the petitioner, the conviction ruling of the lower courts is to be set aside.
The Court remarked, “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 to be set aside.”
