Non-consummation of marriage cruelty under Hindu Marriage Act but not IPC: Karnataka High Court

The high court quashed criminal proceedings against a man and his parents in his wife's complaint and affirmed the grant of a divorce decree by a family court.

A family court had already granted a decree of divorce on the wife's plea on the ground of cruelty in November 2022 under the Hindu Marriage Act. (File)

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Non-consummation of marriage would amount to cruelty under Hindu Marriage Act but not under Indian Penal Code (IPC), observed Karnataka High Court recently as it quashed criminal proceedings against a man and his parents in his wife’s complaint.

The petitioners had approached the high court seeking to quash the proceedings against them in a case filed under IPC Section 498A (Cruelty by the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman) and Section 4 (demanding dowry, directly or indirectly, from the parents or other relatives or guardian of a bride or bridegroom) of the Dowry Prohibition Act.

The couple got married in December 2019, and the wife left the husband’s home within a month, alleging non-consummation of marriage. The woman suspected the role of the in-laws in her complaint, saying that they wanted her to bring articles such as a refrigerator (as dowry) and said her husband wanted to remain celibate, being a follower of the Brahma Kumaris spiritual movement.

A family court had already granted a decree of divorce on the wife’s plea on the ground of cruelty in November 2022 under the Hindu Marriage Act.

A single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna on June 16 allowed the petition of the man and his parents and said, “The husband was a follower of Brahmakumari……. was always telling the wife that he is not interested in physical relationship…the allegation is being a follower of Brahmakumari, he could not have married her at the outset. It amounts to cruelty. No other allegation with regard to demand of dowry is made against the husband.”

The bench also said that the role of the man’s parents was absent. “A perusal at the complaint would indicate no ingredient of any cruelty by the in-laws i.e., father-in-law and the mother-in-law and it is an admitted fact that the parents never stayed with the couple. In the teeth of such facts, if further proceedings are permitted to continue against the parents, it would become an abuse of the process of law,” it said.