Continuing Criminal Proceedings Post-Settlement Serves No Purpose’: Supreme Court Quashes 498A Case After Divorce

“Once the marital relationship has ended… continuation of criminal proceedings serves no legitimate purpose” – Supreme Court quashed a dowry-cruelty case under Sections 323, 406, 498A, and 506 IPC after the parties’ marriage had ended in divorce by mutual consent, holding that prolonging such prosecution post-settlement only perpetuates bitterness and burdens the criminal justice system.

A Bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice K.V. Viswanathan exercised powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to “advance the cause of complete justice” after noting that all disputes between the estranged couple had been resolved, all pending litigations withdrawn, and the complainant wife had no objection to quashing the case.

The marriage between appellant No. 1 and respondent No. 2 was solemnised on 6 March 2018. Less than a year later, the wife left the matrimonial home, leading to a series of legal proceedings, including FIR No. 67 of 2019 registered at Police Station Radaur, Haryana, alleging cruelty, assault, criminal breach of trust, and intimidation. A chargesheet followed in November 2019.

In January 2024, the Family Court granted a mutual consent divorce, accompanied by a full and final settlement. Yet, when the appellants sought quashing of the FIR under Section 482 CrPC, the Punjab & Haryana High Court refused, citing allegations of “victimisation of the child”.

The Supreme Court took a different view, stressing that matrimonial criminal prosecutions cannot be allowed to linger when the dispute is dead. Citing Dara Lakshmi Narayana v. State of Telangana (2025) 3 SCC 735, the Bench warned against the “recurring tendency to implicate every member of the husband’s family, irrespective of their role or actual involvement… criminal law is not to be deployed as an instrument of harassment.”

Justice Nagarathna, writing for the Court, observed: “Once the marital relationship has ended in divorce and the parties have moved on in their lives individually, the continuation of criminal proceedings against family members, especially in the absence of specific and proximate allegations, serves no legitimate purpose. It only prolongs bitterness and burdens the criminal justice system with disputes that are no longer live.”

The judgment drew strength from earlier rulings in Mala Kar v. State of Uttarakhand (2024), Arun Jain v. State of NCT of Delhi (2024), and Ramawatar v. State of Madhya Pradesh (2022), all of which recognised the propriety of quashing criminal cases post-divorce when the parties have amicably settled.

Ultimately, the Court set aside the High Court’s order and quashed the FIR, the chargesheet, and all proceedings arising from them, holding that the wife’s lack of intent to prosecute, coupled with the complete resolution of disputes, made continuation “an instance of harassment” rather than justice.

Date of Decision: 12 August 2025