Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, Justice K. Vinod Chandran, Supreme Court
“She Had Full Knowledge": Supreme Court Quashes FIR Lodged Against Man Accused Of Hiding Skin Condition And Professional Qualification From Wife
|The Court said that this was a fit case where the High Court to have exercised its powers under Section 482 of the CrPC and quashed the proceedings against the husband.
The Supreme Court quashed an FIR filed by a woman against her husband and in-laws alleging suppression of skin condition and misrepresentation of qualification, after finding that the complainant had full knowledge of these facts prior to the marriage.
A Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K. Vinod Chandran observed, “From all reasonable assumptions as well as the documents which have been placed before us, it is clear that the complainant had full knowledge that the appellant was suffering from skin disease and he was not an Eye Surgeon, but an Optometrist.”
The Court added, “We find that this case is nothing but an abuse of process of law. The FIR has been filed totally for extraneous reasons…”
The Appellants were represented by Advocate on Record Somesh Chandra Jha, while Senior Advocate Dr. Purvish Jitendra Malkan appeared for the Respondents.
Brief Facts
The Complainant, the wife herein, had married Appellant No. 1, the husband herein, in April 2023 and filed an FIR in 30 September 2023 alleging that her consent for marriage had been obtained by suppressing the fact that the Appellant suffered from leukoderma and by falsely representing him to be an eye surgeon. This fact was not known to her till their Reception for which Invitation Cards were sent to the guests, and in the Invitation Card, his qualification was shown as ‘B.Sc.’.
The FIR was registered under Sections 406, 420, 465, 471, 498A, 376(2)(f), 376(2)(k), 376(2)(n) and 114 of the Indian Penal Code.
The Gujarat High Court had earlier dismissed the husband’s plea under Section 482 CrPC to quash the proceedings and held, “Thought the Court is conscious that filing of a charge-sheet not bar in entertaining a petition for quashing, the same is required to be done only under exceptional circumstances when in the instant case, there are serious allegation about marrying innocent girl by way of misrepresentation and when the entire family has together hatched a conspiracy and duped the girl and made her believe about the reputation, nature of job and salary of the boy and as the charge-sheet is also filed, which indicate prima-facie that offence is committed.”
Reasoning of the Court
Rejecting Complainant’s claims, the Court noted, “From the WhatsApp chats which has been shown to us; not disputed, it is clear that there was no effort on the part of the appellant to disguise or befool the complainant regarding his skin disease or regarding his qualification.”
Criticising the High Court’s approach, the Bench stated, “This is a befitting case where the High Court should have exercised its powers under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code and should have quashed the proceedings.”
The Court concluded, “We find that this case is nothing but an abuse of process of law. The FIR has been filed totally for extraneous reasons and from the contents of the FIR itself, as well as the evidence which has come before us, we are of the opinion that no case is made out against the appellants.”
The appeal was accordingly allowed, and the criminal proceedings arising from the FIR against the husband were quashed.
Cause Title: Rohan & Ors. v. State of Gujarat & Anr. (Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 12356 Of 2024)
Appearance:
Appellants: AOR Somesh Chandra Jha; Advocates H. B. Shethna, Saumya Dwivedi, Akash Kishore, Animesh Rajoriya
Respondents: Senior Advocate Dr. Purvish Jitendra Malkan; AOR Khushboo Akash Sheth, Swati Ghildiyal; Advocates Dharita Malkan, Alok Kumar, Kush Goel