Karnataka HC Stays Cruelty Case Against Husband Filed By Wife For Not Allowing Her To Eat French Fries

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday helped a man who was facing charges under Section 498A (cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly not letting his wife eat french fries.

Justice M Nagaprasanna, who was hearing the case, noted that the complaint against the man was very trivial and, therefore, the investigation against him in the case was stayed.

While giving order for the cade, the High Court said, “Allowing any investigation against the husband would become an abuse of the process of law and putting a premium on the allegations of the wife that she was not given to eat french fries at the relevant point of time. Therefore, there shall be an interim order of stay on all investigation qua the husband.”

The Court also allowed the man to travel to the United States for work only after he accepted the undertaking that he will cooperate with the investigating authorities and not ‘vanish’.

He filed a petition alleging that the complaint against him was frivolous and thereby he sought a stay on the investigation.

His advocate told the Court that the wife had filed a complaint under Section 498A of the IPC against the man and his parents. The Court had earlier, stayed the probe against the parents.

The lawyer further submitted that his client was employed in the United States and he was not being able to go back for work since the jurisdictional court had issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against him following the wife’s complaint.

In her complaint, the wife had claimed that her husband had “refused to allow her to eat French fries, rice, and meat soon after she gave birth to their child.”

On the other hand, the husband argued that the wife used to make him do all the household chores during the six years that they lived in the United States before the birth of their child.

In his reply filed before the court, the man said, “The time that she did not spend on the phone, she spent watching Pakistani dramas.”

In connection to the case, Justice Nagaprasanna said that this was a clear abuse of the process of law and that the LOC was being “used as a weapon”, a Bar and Bench report stated.

The Court further noted that the entire complaint seemed frivolous and that it was inclined towards allowing the man to go to the US for his professional commitments.