The Andhra Pradesh High Court has held that charges of harassment for dowry under Section 498A IPC cannot be constituted prima facie in absence of specific allegations against the relatives of husband.
The single-judge bench of Justice Cheekati Manavendranath Roy while adjudicating upon a petition under Section 438 CrPC, observed that vague allegations cannot concerete the commission of an offence.
The petitioners (parents of husband of deceased) were facing charges under Section 306 IPC r/w Section 34 IPC. The husband along with the parents was accused of subjecting the deceased to cruelty with illegal demands pertaining to which, she committed suicide by hanging.
The Counsel for the petitioners/accused submitted that no specific allegations were made against them and whatever has been said is vague in nature indicating that they were falsely implicated in the crime.
Contrary, the APP submitted that there were certain allegations that were made against the petitioners stating that they used to harass the deceased as they didn't like her marrying their son which added to her frustrations.
The Court observed that the charge-sheet is vague as no specific allegations made against the parents of the accused husband regarding the alleged harassment said to have been caused by them to the deceased making any demand for any additional dowry.
"The only allegation that was made is that the petitioners did not like the deceased marrying A-1 and as such they used to make comments against her in this regard and used to harass her. The said allegations prima facie do not constitute any offence punishable under Section 498A IPC."
The petition was thus allowed.
Read Order Here:
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