ANUMALA ARUNA DEEPIKA Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) "The petitioner is A-2 in Crime No.118 of 2021 of Disha Women Police Station, SPSR Nellore District. A case under Sections 498-A, 114 IPC was registered against her along with other accused. The allegation against the petitioner is that she is the girlfriend of A-1, who is the husband of the de facto complainant and A-1 developed illegal intimacy with A-2.

(2.) The petitioner now seeks quash of the F.I.R mainly on the ground that only relative of the husband connected by blood or marriage alone is liable for prosecution under Section 498-A IPC and a girlfriend or concubine is not liable for prosecution under Section 498-A IPC as she is not relative either by blood or marriage to A-1, who is the husband of the de facto complainant.

(3.) This Court finds considerable force in the said contention of the petitioner. It is now well settled law that only a relative of a husband by blood or marriage is liable for prosecution under Section 498-A IPC. Girlfriend or concubine, being not connected by blood or marriage, is not a relative of the husband for the purpose of Section 498-A IPC. The Apex Court in the case of U.Suvetha Vs. State reported in (2009) 6 SCC 757, held that persons who can commit offence under Section 498-A IPC are husband and relatives only. Girlfriend, being not a relative, cannot be charged under Section 498-A IPC.