IMPORTANT POINT
Without a legal marriage, allegations under Section 498-A IPC cannot be sustained, as the partner does not attain the status of husband.

ORDER :

(A. Badharudeen, J.)

This Criminal Miscellaneous Case has been filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to quash Annexure-A1 Final Report and all further proceedings in Crime No.806/2016 of Karamana Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram. The petitioner herein is the accused in the above case.

2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Public Prosecutor in detail. I have perused Final Report and also addressed to the legal question raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner that in this matter there was no legal marriage and even the date of marriage itself is not disclosed.

3. Here the prosecution alleges commission of offences punishable under Sections 406 and 498-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short 'the IPC' hereafter) by the sole accused who is the petitioner herein. As per the prosecution allegations as borne out from the records, the petitioner herein married the defacto complainant at Thuruthiyil Devi Temple, Pappanamcode and thereafter they lived together as husband and wife. During their stay at the matrimonial home, there was persecution at the hands of the accused. Further there was allegation that the accused failed to conduct legal marriage and thereby committed breach of trust.

4. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, in the instant case, there are no materials collected during investigation to prove that there was a legal marriage in between the petitioner and the defacto complainant as alleged. No marriage certificate also produced, even the date of marriage is not disclosed. The prosecution allegation itself would show that the petitioner herein committed breach of trust by promising to give effect to legal marriage.

5. In the decision reported in Aswin V. Nair (Dr.) V. State of Kerala [2024 KHC Online 611], this Court considered an issue in paragraph Nos. 4 to 9 held as under:

“4. While canvasing quashment of the proceedings, the learned counsel for the petitioner argued that the relationship between the accused and the defacto complainant was a live-in relationship and there is no legal marriage in between them. Accordingly, it is submitted that the offence punishable under Section 498(A) of IPC would not attract in the facts of this case. The learned counsel for the petitioner placed two decisions of this Court viz. Unnikrishnan @ Chandu v. State of Kerala [[2017(4) KHC 356 : 2017 (2) KLD 480 : 2017 (3) KLT 991 : 2017 (3) KLJ 918 : ILR 2017 (4) Ker. 822 : 2018 CriLJ 265] and Narayanan v. State of Kerala [2023 (6) KHC 427 : 2023 KHC OnLine 651 : 2023 KER 61827 : 2023 (4) KLJ 590], in this regard.

5. The learned Public Prosecutor also fairly submitted that, even though crime was registered alleging commission of offence punishable under Section 498(A) of IPC, the relationship between the accused and the defacto complainant was only live-in relationship and no materials brought in to see any legal marriage between them.

6. In a three Bench decision of the Apex Court reported in Shivcharan Lal Verma and Another v. State of Madhya Pradesh [2002 (2) Crimes 177 SC: JT 2002 (2) SC 641], the Apex Court held as under:

For a prosecution under S.498A IPC, there must be a valid marital relationship between the accused and the victim. That is a case where a second wife committed suicide, allegedly due to the acts of cruelty of her husband and the former wife. The victim's marriage with the accused in the said case was void ab initio.

7. Holding so, the Apex Court held that a conviction under Section 498A could not be sustained in such situation. The said ratio has been followed by this Court in Unnikrishnan @ Chandu's case (supra) and Narayanan’s case (supra).

8. On perusal of the statutory wording under Section 498(A) of IPC, it has been provided as under:

498A. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.—Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished