Karnataka High Court gives liberty to man to prosecute wife for making false charge of offences against him
In a rare instance, the High Court of Karnataka has given liberty to a 35-year-old man to initiate proceedings against his wife for malicious prosecution or proceedings under Section 211 of the Indian Penal Code for making the false charge of offences, including the offence of dowry harassment, against him.
The court said the husband can initiate proceedings against the wife, if he so desires.
“The complainant-wife, in gross misuse and abuse of law, has set the criminal law into motion. Such frivolous cases registered by the wife have taken enormous judicial time…” the court observed.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing the petition filed by the husband against the chargesheet filed against him by the Bengaluru city police in 2022 and quashing the criminal case against him.
Suspicious of STDs
The 32-year-old wife, apart from alleging that the husband had made a demand for dowry and harassed her, had alleged that she could not consummate the marriage as he avoided having a sexual relationship with her during his 40-day stay with her after the marriage as he was allegedly having several health issues. She had alleged that he was having some infection and suspected the infection to be sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). She had also complained that her husband did not take her to the U.S. despite she being granted a visa, though with a delay.
However, the court, from the records, found that the “documents speak otherwise” and “it is misuse and abuse of criminal justice system by the complainant-wife right from the word go”.
Medical tests
The court found she had forced him to undergo multiple medical tests for Hepatitis B surface antigen, and STDs, including tests for HIV and syphilis. The results of the tests, conducted at Victoria Hospital, were found to be negative.
She continued to claim that he might have HPV (human papillomavirus) disease. The court noted that the husband had undergone a test at Columbus in the U.S. where it was certified that “he had no physical signs of HPV or other infections on his body as there is no test available for testing HPV in males”.
Also, the court found that he had got her four appointments for the visa since his marriage but she did not attend interviews and finally secured a visa during the fifth time but did not go to the U.S., claiming that he was not communicating with her despite her messages and email to join him.
The court also noted that the mother and the brother of the wife, in their statement given to the police, had denied any demand and harassment for dowry.
‘No ingredient’
The allegations are “clearly a bogey projected by the wife as documents speak otherwise”, the court said while stating that “it is not a case where there is an iota of ingredient” against the husband.
The couple had married in May 2020 and all efforts of conciliation failed between the two, as the wife demanded ₹3 crore in lieu of settlement, saying that the husband earns more than ₹2 crore annually.
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