Is It Possible to File an FIR Under 498A After Divorce?

A bench of Supreme Court Bench L and Justice SA Bobde, after Divorce her husband nearly four years ago, found the Nageswara Rao bench finding that the complainant had filed an FIR under the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 and Section 498A of the IPC. The court has rejected the recorded FIR.

The complainant married the accused-appellant. It was alleged that when those people met, dowry was demanded by their family members, the dowry was refused, as it had already been given to them and this refusal by her husband Hit her while her sister-in-law and mother-in-law pulled her by holding her hair.

The complainant, therefore, filed an FIR under Section 498A, Section 504, Section 506, Section 325, and Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

The appellant filed an application before the High Court in accordance with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure where the Court dismissed him. An application for the trial was filed before the trial court and where it was also dismissed. Therefore, an amended petition was filed before the High Court and it was again dismissed by the Court.

The appeal was filed before the apex court through a special leave petition, where the court opposed it:
Section 498A1 of the IPC opens with the words “whoever is the husband or relative of a woman…” Therefore, Where the complainant contacts with a case that there has been a divorce back i.e. four years before the filing of the FIR, reference to Section 498A of the IPC will not be attracted.

Accordingly, we consider it appropriate to prosecute all the accused persons under Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, and Section 9 of the IPC. “

The Supreme Court has ruled that if the complaint is lodged long after the divorce, the litigation under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 is not sustainable.

Click to read the complete Judgment: –

b’Mohammad_Miyan_vs_The_State_Of_Uttar_Pradesh_on_21_August,_2018′

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Anshika Katiyar
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Anshika Katiyar

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