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Shlok Bhardwaj v. Runika Bhardwaj

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 741 of 2009)Decided 10 Dec 2014
Criminal Appeal No. 741 of 2009
Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya · Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel

Background

A husband and his relatives were acquitted of matrimonial cruelty, dowry and related charges. While the wife's revision was pending, the spouses settled their dispute through mutual consent divorce and later remarried. The High Court nevertheless set aside the acquittal and ordered a fresh decision without addressing the settlement.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed the husband's appeal and restored the Magistrate's acquittal. On these facts, it treated the settlement as ending the parties' dispute, with no liberty reserved to continue proceedings against the husband. Independently, the Magistrate had carefully assessed the allegations and evidence, and the acquittal was not perverse. The High Court had substituted its own appreciation of the evidence instead of identifying the exceptional defect needed to interfere in revision.

Lesson Learnt

A private revision against an acquittal is not an unrestricted second assessment of the evidence. The effect of a matrimonial settlement depends on its circumstances and scope; this decision should not be read as saying every divorce automatically ends every criminal case.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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