New Delhi: The Bombay High Court has recently said that merely telling a woman that if she fails to bring an amount of money from her parental house in wake of such a demand by her husband or in-laws, she would be allowed to cohabit with her husband, will not amount to mental or physical harassment.
A division bench of Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Rohit Joshi said that in the FIR lodged against her husband and in-laws, the wife had said that they had asked her to bring Rs. 5 lakh from her parents’ house so that her husband can pay money to get a permanent job in public service.
“Then the husband and in-laws responded that if she is unable to bring the amount, then she should not come for cohabitation and on that count, she was harassed mentally and physically time and again. Again the acts amounting to ‘physical and mental cruelty’ are not given. Statement that unless she brings the amount she should not come for cohabitation without any action will not amount to mental and physical harassment,” the judges held in their order pronounced on January 10,” said the court in its order on January 10, reported LiveLaw.
The court said that the wife had not been able to bring properly on record as to on which dates such demands were made and for how long the accused persisted with their demands.
The judges said that the allegations made by the woman were “vague” and she didn’t point out how she was subjected to cruelty and maltreatment.
The bench subsequently quashed the FIR.
