Why Delhi High Court refused to quash cruelty case against husband despite financial settlement

justice Chandra Dhari Singh refused to quash the case under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after finding that even after the dispute was resolved, the husband had failed to abide by the settlement terms and subjected his wife to torture and cruelty.

In addition, the court noted the wife’s argument that the husband had already taken back the amount paid to her at the time of the settlement and had also taken away her hard-earned money that she had earned by running an independent boutique

Therefore, the wife’s cause of action still stands, the court said.

“This court finds no reason to quash the impugned FIR as the cause of action still exists and the agreement reached by the parties was never honored by the plaintiff and he subjected his wife to torture and cruelty, a condition necessary to protect the plaintiff to attract formulation of charges under 498A of the IPC. In view of the above, it is stated that the petitioner could not put forward any suggestions justifying the exercise of the inherent powers of this Court as the conduct of the petitioner still involves the criminal nature of the offense with which he has been charged pursuant to the aforesaid FIR, said the court.

Appropriately, the court said that while it has wide inherent powers to quash cases under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the same should be used sparingly and only in those cases where no harm can be caused to society.

Crimes related to marital relationships should not be routinely dismissed, especially if the victim of the crime in question has resisted the cancellation by refusing to agree, the single judge emphasized.