Omnibus Cruelty Allegations, Belated Medical Certificates Can't Justify Attempt-To-Homicide Charge Against In-Laws: Calcutta High Court

Holding that mere omnibus allegations and belated medical certificates cannot justify subjecting distant in-laws to a serious charge of attempt to culpable homicide, the Calcutta High Court partly allowed a criminal revision and discharged the mother-in-law and sister-in-law of a woman from prosecution under Section 308 IPC in a matrimonial cruelty case.Justice Chaitali Chatterjee Das observed that while courts must ordinarily be slow to interfere at the stage of charge, the inherent power under Section 482 CrPC can be exercised where proceedings appear vexatious or unsupported by material. The Court stressed that “discharge is a valuable right” and continuing prosecution without prima facie evidence would amount to abuse of process.The case arose from a complaint lodged by the wife in July 2017 against her husband and several in-laws alleging prolonged physical and mental torture after her marriage in December 2015. She alleged demands for money and property, forced administration of wrong medicines during pregnancy, and assaults on her abdomen with intent to harm her unborn child. Based on the complaint, police registered offences under Sections 498A, 406, 325 and later added Section 308 IPC.The petitioners, including aged parents-in-law and siblings-in-law, sought discharge contending that the complaint was filed as a “counter blast” after the husband initiated divorce proceedings. They argued that the allegations were general and delayed, and that the medical documents were procured nearly two years after the alleged incidents. It was submitted that no specific role was attributed to several family members.Examining the materials, the High Court noted that the doctor's prescriptions from the relevant period did not corroborate the allegation that the mother-in-law and sister-in-law had forcibly administered medicines causing convulsions and bleeding. The later “to whom it may concern” certificate, issued long after the events, merely recorded the history narrated by the complainant and lacked contemporaneous medical findings.The Court found that no concrete material connected the mother-in-law and sister-in-law to the alleged offence under Section 308 IPC, and their implication appeared based on broad, omnibus assertions. In contrast, there were specific allegations of physical assault against the husband and certain other relatives relating to a March 2016 incident, which were supported by medical papers, warranting a full trial.Accordingly, the High Court set aside the trial court's order refusing discharge insofar as it concerned the mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and discharged them from the Section 308 charge, while directing that the remaining accused face trial.The criminal revision (CRR 4013 of 2023) was thus partly allowed.Case: BHARAT SONI & ORS. VS NANDINI SONI & ANR.Case No: CRR 4013 OF 2023Click here to read order

Omnibus Cruelty Allegations, Belated Medical Certificates Can't Justify Attempt-To-Homicide Charge Against In-Laws: Calcutta High Court

Srinjoy Das

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