Supreme Court’s BIG move: Wife can’t file cruelty case on ex-husband after six months of divorce

After referring to one of the cases, where a woman filed a criminal complaint under Section 498A of the IPC (mental cruelty against wife by husband and his relatives) after six months of receiving a divorce decision, the Supreme court made a landmark decision. The Supreme Court invoked its sweeping powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to have the criminal case against the woman dismissed.

The case was referring to a woman who wed Arun Jain in November 1996, and the couple welcomed a daughter in April 2001.
In April 2007, the husband moved out of the marital residence. Shortly after, the wife started the divorce process, which resulted in the end of the marriage in April 2013.

Six months after getting a divorce, the woman filed a mental abuse case under Section 498A against her husband and his parents. After which, Delhi Police filed a chargesheet in September 2015 after filing an FIR in February 2014. The man filed a motion in the Delhi High Court to have the criminal cases dismissed.

After the HC denied his request, the man, through Prabhjit Jauhar, moved to the Supreme Court, where he contended before a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Augustine G Masih that the annulment of the marriage by a family court, which took into account all aspects of the couple's wedded life, was a blatant abuse of the criminal law.

It was then brought to the courts that the woman in 2008, initiated proceedings under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The move was taken by the woman a year after her husband left the home. 

Justice Nagarathna and Masih decided to quash the ongoing criminal proceedings because they believed it would be ineffective to use the legal system to further the separated couple's disagreements.