Delhi HC flags misuse of dowry laws against distant relatives, quashes FIR against 18-year-old

New Delhi [India], September 30 (ANI): Observing that the "evils of dowry harassment and cruelty are a pestilence to the sanctum that is marriage" but cautioning against the indiscriminate roping in of distant relatives, the Delhi High Court has quashed an FIR against an 18-year-old girl implicated in a matrimonial dispute.
Justice Ajay Digpaul noted that while dowry-related offences must be dealt with utmost seriousness, the attempt to curb such social evils "must be balanced with the rights of those innocents who may be roped into the dispute purely by distant association with the accused through blood."
The case pertained to an FIR lodged at Pandav Nagar Police Station under Sections 498A, 406 and 34 of the IPC. The petitioner was named along with five others, though the principal allegations of abuse, harassment and dowry demands were directed against the complainant's husband, his parents and sisters.
The only specific charge against the petitioner was her alleged involvement in tampering with CCTV cameras and locking up furniture to inconvenience the complainant. However, counsel for the complainant informed the court that she did not wish to press the allegations, acknowledging that the petitioner was only around 18 years old at the time, still in school, and coping with the trauma of her father's death.

The court also relied on past Supreme Court rulings, including Rajesh Chaddha vs State of U.P. and Dara Lakshmi Narayana vs State of Telangana, which have deprecated the practice of dragging distant relatives into matrimonial disputes without substantial allegations.
Taking into account the complainant's no-objection, the petitioner's young age and circumstances, and the absence of significant evidence against her, the High Court ordered quashing of the FIR and related proceedings insofar as they pertained to her. (ANI)