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Wife initiating proceedings against husband for payment of maintenance can’t become offence of extortion: Karnataka High Court

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Wife initiating proceedings against husband for payment of maintenance can’t become offence of extortion: Karnataka High Court

A file photo of the High Court of Karnataka building.
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The initiation of proceedings by the wife against the husband, seeking payment of maintenance and the court concerned granting maintenance, cannot become an offence of extortion, said the High Court of Karnataka while quashing criminal cases registered by a couple against each other following a marital discord.

The petitions for the payment of maintenance are legal proceedings, pursuant to which the husband is legally bound to pay unless it is altered or modified by the superior court, said Justice M. Nagaprasanna while quashing a case of extortion, cheating, and breach of trust filed by a 47-year-old man against his 42-year-old wife.

“Insofar as the offence of cheating and criminal breach of trust is concerned between the husband and the wife for the purpose of payment of maintenance, there cannot be a fact that the husband has lured the wife or the wife has lured the husband into any act that would become an ingredient of Section 420 or 406 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” the court observed.

The court also quashed the case of harassment/domestic violence registered by the wife against the husband while pointing out there is no ingredient that is even present to its remotest sense to drive home the offence under Section 498A of the IPC.

“Allowing criminal case against the husband would become an abuse of the process of law and putting a premium on the litigative persistence and arm-twisting tactics of the wife,” the court said.

Criminal case filed

The man had registered a criminal case against his wife alleging that she went on extorting money from him on one pretext or another and filed a false affidavit before the courts for the purpose of getting maintenance and has taken maintenance of up to ₹1 crore so far.

The relationship between the couple, who married in 2007 and had two children, began to turn sour in 2016 after the husband came to know about the wife’s alleged extramarital relationship with her old boyfriend. Though the wife promised not to continue the relationship, it was alleged that she continued it and left the matrimonial home in 2020.

Plea for mutual consent

Later, she issued legal notices asking the husband to agree for mutual consent for the dissolution of the marriage and handover custody of the children to her, failing which she would register criminal cases against him. As mediation to sort out the difference between them failed, the wife in 2023 filed a petition for the termination of marriage before the family court besides filing a criminal case for dowry harassment/domestic violence and petition seeking payment of maintenance from husband.

As she had started publishing the contents of the complaint on media platforms, the husband filed a suit for injunction against her and the media platforms, besides lodging the criminal case for alleged extortion and cheating, and petition seeking custody of children and for restitution of conjugal rights.



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