The Delhi high court has held that matrimonial discord and the anguish arising from a troubled marriage cannot justify implicating an entire family in criminal proceedings unless specific allegations and individual roles are attributed to the persons concerned.
“Before parting, this Court wishes to express its concern over the tendencies today to implicate the husband’s relatives in matrimonial disputes through sweeping allegations of cruelty. “This Court also wishes to emphasise the importance of timely support from the parental family when a daughter speaks of violence or persistent mistreatment in her marriage. Her concerns should not be brushed aside with advice to adjust, nor should a fear of social disapproval stand in the way of offering her a safe home. A daughter’s return to her parents should never be regarded as a matter of shame for them.
The judge said that criminal prosecution carries consequences that extend beyond the courtroom, impacting an individual’s reputation, livelihood, and family life, and that the law must provide effective protection to women subjected to cruelty; it must also ensure that relatives are not prosecuted merely on account of their relationship with the husband. The anguish arising from a troubled marriage is understandable, but it cannot justify drawing the entire family into criminal proceedings without a specific role being attributed to the persons concerned,” the court said. Preserving a marriage cannot take precedence over her safety and dignity, and support should not have to await an irretrievable tragedy,” the court said.
It added, “A criminal prosecution has consequences that extend beyond the courtroom, affecting reputation, livelihood and family life. Because of their relationship with the husband, and even the husbands should not be, without cause, penalised.”, the law must therefore afford effective protection to a woman subjected to cruelty, while ensuring that relatives are not made to face prosecution merely.
The case
The court delivered the verdict while upholding the trial court’s order discharging Mayank Singhvi, husband of the late flight attendant Anissia Batra, from the charges of cruelty and abetment to suicide and his parents from the charges of cruelty and causing dowry death. She alleged that Mayank had repeatedly demanded money from her daughter and held him and his parents responsible for her daughter’s death. This verdict was then challenged by Mayank, Anissia’s mother and the Delhi police.
Anissia, who used to work with a German airline, allegedly died by suicide in South Delhi’s Panchsheel Park on July 13, 2018. Following Anissia’s death, an FIR was registered under Sections 304B (dowry death), 498A (cruelty), 306 (abetment to suicide) read with Section 34 of the IPC, at the behest of Anissia’s mother, Nillum Batra. The trial court in 2019 discharged Mayank for dowry death and his parents for dowry death and cruelty, and directed framing charges against Mayank for cruelty and abetment to suicide.
