The Telangana High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against a man accused of cruelty and criminal intimidation, noting that the alleged acts occurred entirely in the United States of America.

The single judge bench of Justice Juvvadi Sridevi, allowed the plea preferred by the accused to quash the FIR registered at Cyberabad IT Corridor Women's Police Station.

“…In the present case, as observed supra, the matrimonial relationship between the parties has been dissolved by a decree of divorce dated 10.08.2026. The alleged acts of physical and mental cruelty, assault and the incident involving the car are stated to have occurred in the USA, where respondent No.2 is also stated to have approached the police authorities… The material placed before this Court does not disclose any specific act constituting the offences alleged to have been committed by the petitioner within the territorial limits of India, apart from the lodging of the complaint and the consequential registration of the present crime.”, the court said in the order.

The husband was alleged to have committed offences under Sections 85 (cruelty by husband or relatives), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), and 352 (intentional insult) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

According to the complainant-wife, during the marriage with the accused-husband in 2018, her parent had given sovereigns, monies and other valuables to the husband. The husband left for US soon thereafter, and he was joined by the wife.

According to the wife, during their stay in US, she was subjected physical and mental cruelty, harassment due to husband's suspicion of infidelity, deprival of basic necessities, and even an attempt to murder her and the son born out of the wedlock using a car.

The wife told the court that she had already lodged a complaint with the US police in the matter. After such incidents, the wife had allegedly come back to India to live separately. After reaching India, she lodged another complaint with the Cyberabad Police.

Senior Counsel Baglekar Akash Kumar, argued that the petitioner-husband was falsely implicated, and the allegations primarily pertained to incidents that occurred in the USA, where the respondent had already approached the local police. In the absence of any specific act constituting an offence within Indian territory, registration of FIR by Indian Police was unsustainable, he contended further.

The husband further submitted that a mere threat to commit suicide does not constitute criminal intimidation under Section 351(2) of the BNS, and that the complaint lacked the essential elements of intentional insult required to provoke a breach of public peace under Section 352.

The High Court was also told by the husband that the marriage had been dissolved by a decree of divorce in August 2026 by a US Court, making the continuation of criminal proceedings an abuse of the legal process.

APP M. Vivekananda Reddy for the state, in turn, contended that the allegations disclosed physical and mental cruelty warranting investigation.

The court, after perusing the material on record, came to the conclusion that the allegations did not disclose the commission of the alleged offences .

The alleged acts of cruelty, assault, and the car incident occurred in the USA, and the respondent had already approached the police there. The Court observed that the material placed before it did not disclose any specific act constituting the alleged offences committed by the petitioner within the territorial limits of India, except the lodging of the complaint itself.

“…Further, the allegations do not prima facie satisfy the essential ingredients of criminal intimidation under Section 351(2) of the BNS or intentional insult under Section 352 of the BNS. Hence, even if the allegations in the complaint and FIR are accepted in their entirety, they do not prima facie disclose the commission of the alleged offences by the petitioner-accused No.1…”, the court noted further.

Reliance was placed by the High Court in apex court precedents such as Dara Lakshmi Narayana and others v. State of Telangana and another[2024], warning about the misuse of penal provisions in matrimonial disputes.

“…Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed, and the proceedings against the petitioner-accused No.1 in Crime No.39 of 2026 of WPS-IT Corridor, Cyberabad... are hereby quashed…” the Court ordered.