S.498A of IPC, Cruelty Against Women and Approach of High Courts : Supreme Court Explains the Legal Position

S.498A of IPC, Cruelty Against Women and Approach of High Courts : Supreme Court Explains the Legal Position

In case of Muskan v Ishaan Khan [2025] GCtR 1768 (SC) dealing with S.498A of IPC, it was held that on the aspect of the powers of the Courts under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, it is settled that at the stage of quashing, the Court is not required to conduct a mini trial. Thus, the jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 with respect to quashing is somewhat limited as the Court has to only consider whether any sufficient material is available to proceed against the accused or not. If sufficient material is available, the power under Section 482 should not be exercised. 

High Court has erred in law by embarking upon an enquiry with regard to credibility or otherwise of the allegations in the complaints and the FIR. Normally, for quashing an FIR, it must be shown that there exists no prime facie case against the accused persons. In the present case, from the conjoint reading of the complaints and the FIR, it can be seen that prime facie allegations of harassment and demand of dowry are made out, despite that the High Court quashed the FIR against the private respondents primarily on the ground that the earlier two complaints that were filed by the appellant did not mention the specific instances that happened on 22.07.2021 and 27.11.2022 and the same were later on mentioned in the FIR only as an afterthought and was a counterblast to the legal notice sent by respondent no.1/husband to the appellant as she was not coming back to her matrimonial home. This approach adopted by the High Court amounts to conducting a mini trial.