Crying rape, fleecing husband a trend: HC

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 17

In an order likely to come to the rescue of grooms framed in criminal cases, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that fleecing the husband’s side by levelling rape, unnatural sex and other shocking allegations, which stirred the conscience of the court, had become a trend.

The ruling by Justice Fateh Deep Singh came in a case where the estranged wife, married earlier also, had left her former matrimonial home five days after her marriage before compromising the matter with her first husband after receiving Rs 10 lakh. The petitioner-husband in the case also told the court that the complainant-wife’s father was a ‘mistri’ but had given the impression that he was a sub-divisional officer.

The husband had moved the court through counsel PS Ahluwalia apprehending arrest in a case alleging harassment and unnatural offence registered at Hisar Civil Lines Police Station in November last year under Sections 323, 377, 406, 498-A, 506 and 34 of the IPC. Section 376(1) of the IPC on rape was added later. The wife had alleged that they tied the knot in July 2018. “Huge dowry and costly gifts” were given to the groom’s side. After the marriage, he “misbehaved with her and she was forced into unnatural sex”.

Justice Fateh Deep Singh asserted that the state counsel’s stand was that the petitioner has joined the investigation and only certain gold ornaments were to be recovered, but he could not elaborate upon the items. The documents placed on the record showed that the complainant’s first marriage took place in April 2014, but she left after five days. Orders passed by a Hisar court in October 2015 showed that the complainant received Rs 10 lakh from the then husband and got the marriage dissolved by mutual consent.

The father’s claim that he was an SDO as per the statement made before the police in September last year was negated by the seniority list of road inspector procured by the petitioner under the Right to Information Act, where he was shown to be working as work ‘mistri’.

Justice Fateh Deep Singh added the complainant’s claim that it was a lavish marriage appeared to be highly improbable and implausible proposition in view of her father’s economic status. “There is no cogent evidence to show by any medical evidence any signs of unnatural sex have been performed with the complainant and the medical advice is quite vague…More so, it has now days become a trend in our society to fleece the husband side by levelling shocking allegations, which stir the conscience of the court, and the trend of slapping of Sections 376 and 377 IPC,” Justice Fateh Deep Singh added while granting interim pre-arrest bail.

The allegation

The wife had alleged that they tied the knot in July 2018. “Huge dowry and costly gifts” were given to the groom’s side. After the marriage, the groom “misbehaved with her and she was forced into unnatural sex”. 

The court said...

It has nowadays become a trend in our society to fleece the husband side by levelling shocking allegations, which stir the conscience of the court, and the trend of slapping Sections 376 and 377 of the IPC.