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The court found that without a legal marriage, a woman's partner does not attain the status of her husband, and Section 498A IPC applies only to a husband or his relatives
The Kerala High Court has ruled that in order to prosecute a woman’s partner or his relatives of cruelty under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a valid marriage is a pre-requisite. The court observed that in the absence of a legal marriage, the accused cannot be considered the complainant's husband under the law, thus invalidating the charges of cruelty. Section 498A deals with the offence of “Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty” and provides with a punishment for three years imprisonment along with fine.
A Single judge bench comprising Justice A. Badharudeen, quashed a criminal case registered by the woman, alleging that the petitioner subjected her (the de facto complainant) to cruelty at their matrimonial home after their marriage, which was reportedly solemnized on November 2, 2009.
However, the petitioner argued that the Family Court had previously declared the petitioner’s marriage with the complainant null and void due to the subsistence of her prior marriage, which had not been dissolved at the time of their union. As a result, the petitioner contended he never held the legal status of the complainant's husband, rendering the prosecution under Section 498A invalid.
The prosecution, represented by the Senior Public Prosecutor Renjit George, acknowledged the Family Court’s decree, which had annulled the marriage on March 23, 2013, for contravening the conditions of the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA). According to Section 5(i) of the HMA, one of the conditions of marriage is that neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage and Section 11 of the HMA declares such marriages ‘null and void’.
Drawing from similar judgments including Aswin V. Nair (Dr.) V. State of Kerala [2024], Shivcharan Lal Verma and Another v. State of Madhya Pradesh [2002], and Unnikrishnan @ Chandu v. State of Kerala [2017], the court reiterated that Section 498A specifically applies to cruelty within legally recognised marital relationships.
The court, taking this into account, noted : “Marriage means a marriage in the eye of law. Thus, without a legal marriage, if a man becomes a woman’s partner, he will not be covered by the term ‘husband’ for the purpose of Section 498(A) of IPC.”
The court highlighted Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which is pari materia to Section 498A IPC, emphasising that no offence under the said section can be established against the woman's partner or his relatives without a legally recognised marriage, since the partner without a legal marriage would not occupy the status of husband.
“Here the petitioner/1st accused never stood on the status of a husband at any point of time, since the marriage was null and void from the very beginning and the same was declared as such, subsequently. Therefore, the prosecution case to the effect that the petitioner committed offence under Section 498A read with 34 of IPC would not stand and accordingly, this matter would require quashment,” the court held.
As a result, the court quashed the criminal proceedings against the petitioner finding that the records clearly reflected the absence of a legal marriage.
Cause Title: X v State of Kerala [CRL.MC NO. 1424 OF 2022]
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