The Supreme Court has said that the proceedings for criminal case for the demand of dowry cannot be quashed due to the pendency of divorce petition between the husband and wife.
A division bench of Justices MR Shah and Justice CT Ravikumar were hearing an appeal which was moved by a wife who assailed the decision by Allahabad High Court for quashing the criminal proceedings for demand of dowry against her husband on the ground that the wife was a AIDS patient and that a divorce petition was also stated to be pending between the parties.
As per the High Court the allegations raised by wife against her husband for demand of dowry are inherently improbable due to the above reason.
The Supreme Court agreed that the reasoning given by the High Court while quashing the criminal proceedings against the husband was unsustainable.
The court said that just because the wife was suffering from the disease AIDS and/or divorce petition was pending, it cannot be said that the allegations of demand of dowry were improbable or bogus proceedings.
It further said that the reasoning given by the High Court while quashing the criminal proceedings are not germane.
The Court also said that the High Court exceeded its power under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) as the chargesheet was already filed against the accused after the investigation found a prima facie case against him.
The Apex Court added that as the charge sheet was filed after the investigation had made a prima facie case, and so it cannot be said that the prosecution was bogus.
The Top a court while setting aside the case added that under the circumstances, the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court quashing the criminal proceedings is unsustainable.
The apex court, therefore, ordered restoration of criminal proceedings against the accused husband.