Asking wife to keep expense sheet not cruelty, rules SC

NEW DELHI: A man asking his wife to maintain an Excel sheet for all the household expenses cannot be termed as cruelty to initiate criminal proceedings, Supreme Court on Friday said while quashing an FIR registered by the wife against her husband. The court said that it maybe a reflection of Indian society where men often try to dominate and take charge of the finances but cannot be a basis to initiate criminal proceedings.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan said courts have to be extremely careful in dealing with matrimonial complaints and must take pragmatic realities into consideration while dealing with such cases as many of them are because of daily wear and tear of marriage which can in no way, be categorised as cruelty.

Allowing the plea of husband for quashing of criminal case which was initiated after various allegations were made against him including that he was sending money to his parents, asking her to maintain account of daily expenses, constantly taunting her about afterbirth weight etc, the bench said that none of them amounted to cruelty and quashed the case.

"The act of the accused of sending money back to his family cannot be misconstrued in a way that leads to a criminal prosecution. The allegation that accused forced complainant (wife) to maintain an Excel sheet of all the expenses, even if taken on the face value, cannot come under the definition of cruelty. The monetary and financial dominance of the accused, as alleged by her, cannot qualify as an instance of cruelty, especially in the absence of any tangible mental or physical harm caused. The said situation is a mirror reflection of the Indian society where men of the households often try to dominate and take charge of the finances of the women but criminal litigation cannot become a gateway or a tool to settle scores and pursue personal vendettas," the bench said.

"Furthermore, other allegations of complainant such as lack of care on part of the husband during pregnancy and postpartum and constant taunts about her afterbirth weight, if accepted prima facie, at best reflect poorly upon the character of the accused but the same cannot amount to cruelty so as to make him suffer through the process of litigation," the bench said.

SC accepted the plea of advocate Prabhjit Jauhar, who appeared for husband, alleging that it was misuse of law and no case was made out against his client. It said a bare perusal of FIR shows the allegations made by her are vague and omnibus and she did not provide any evidence or specific details of any particular instance of harassment.

"Courts have to be careful and cautious in dealing with complaints and must take pragmatic realities into consideration while dealing with matrimonial cases where allegations have to be scrutinised with greater care and circumspection in order to prevent miscarriage of justice and abuse of law. Allegations put forth by the complainant have been considered by us. In our view, they reflect the daily wear and tear of marriage and can, in no way, be categorised as cruelty," the bench said.

"Tendency of invoking these sections, without mentioning specific details, weakens the case of prosecution and casts serious aspersions on the viability of the version of the complainant," SC said.

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