HC grants Anticipatory Bail to Husband in Sec. 498A IPC to save his Marriage

Madhya Pradesh high court’s principal bench at Jabalpur has granted an anticipatory bail to a man facing charges of cruelty and dowry demands by his wife, with the observation that if he goes to jail, the marriage would surely come to an end.

As per the court’s Friday order, the man from Dindori district faces a First Information Report (FIR) lodged by his wife with Shahpura police station on June 19, 2020, under sections 294 (Obscene acts and songs), 498-A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act.

In her FIR, the woman alleged that her husband abused her, demanded a gold chain of 5 tola and was asking for s plot of land, which is in the name of her father, to be transferred to him. The woman also alleged that the accused locked her in a room,refused her medical aid, harassed her for sex and also subjected her to unnatural sex.

The man pleaded in the court that his wife lodged the FIR against him in retaliation to a complaint he had lodged with Karanjiya police station in the district on June 8, 2020, that his in-laws were not allowing her to return to him after taking her away.

While granting an anticipatory bail to the petitioner, the court observed, “Looking at the facts and circumstances of the case, I find that the allegations are trivial and can happen in any marital home. Marriages would always experience some friction or the other. There are no signs of injuries on the body of the complainant...This court is also of the opinion that if the applicant goes to jail, the marriage would almost surely come to an end as thereafter there would be hardly any chances of compromise. However, as the allegations reveal that they are trivial in nature, a window of compromise or settlement is always kept open.”

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