There can be no prosecution for cruelty against the partner of the woman or his relatives if there are no records to prove legal marriage between them, the Kerala High Court reaffirmed while quashing a criminal case.In the case, the marriage between the petitioner (husband) and the complainant (wife) was declared null and void by a family court in 2013 because the court observed that the complainant’s first marriage was subsisting.Referring to the court’s decision, a single judge bench of the High Court noted that “When there is no legal marriage the woman’s partner did not attain the status of her husband and an offence under section 498A of IPC would get attracted only against her husband or relatives of him. Therefore, the absence of legal marriage as borne out from the records, no offence under section 498A of IPC.”The complainant’s counsel argued that the complainant was subjected to cruelty at her matrimonial house after their marriage that was solemnized in 2009.However, the court observed that the basic ingredient to attract section 498A of IPC is that cruelty must be committed by the husband or his relatives. But in this case the petitioner never attained that status because the marriage was void from the beginning.
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