Belide Swagath Kumar v. State of Telangana & Anr., 2025 INSC 1471 - S.498A IPC - Financial Dominance Of Husband - Lack Of Care

Indian Penal Code 1860 - Section 498A - The monetary and financial dominance of the accused as alleged by the complainant cannot qualify as an instance of cruelty, especially in the absence of any tangible mental or physical harm caused. The said situation is a mirror reflection of the Indian society where men of the households often try to dominate and take charge of the finances of the women but criminal litigation cannot become a gateway or a tool to settle scores and pursue personal vendettas - Lack of care on the part of the husband-accused during pregnancy and postpartum and constant taunts about her afterbirth weight at best reflect poorly upon the character of the accused but the same cannot amount to cruelty - The term “cruelty” cannot be established without specific instances. The tendency of invoking these sections, without mentioning any specific details, weakens the case of prosecution and casts serious aspersions on the viability of the version of the complainant - In such cases involving allegations of cruelty and harassment, there would normally be a series of offending acts, which would be required to be spelt out by the complainant against perpetrators in specific terms to involve such perpetrators into the criminal proceedings sought to be initiated against them and therefore mere general allegations of harassment without pointing out the specifics against such persons would not be sufficient to continue criminal proceedings. (Para 23-24)