Section 498A — Territorial Jurisdiction · 9 April 2019
Rupali Devi v. State of U.P.: Supreme Court on Jurisdiction for Section 498A Complaints
Supreme Court of India · 2019 INSC 480; AIR 2019 SC 1790
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The case arose from conflicting judicial views on a recurring procedural question: where a woman alleges cruelty by her husband or his relatives at the matrimonial home under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, and subsequently leaves that home to take shelter with her parents or elsewhere, do courts at the place of refuge have territorial jurisdiction to try the complaint, even though the acts of cruelty are alleged to have occurred at the matrimonial home in a different jurisdiction? The question was referred to a three-judge bench to resolve the divergence in earlier decisions.
The Supreme Court held that courts at the place where a woman is compelled to take shelter after leaving her matrimonial home also have jurisdiction to entertain a Section 498A complaint. The Court reasoned that the mental trauma and its consequences arising from cruelty at the matrimonial home continue to have effect at the place where the woman subsequently resides, and that confining jurisdiction to the matrimonial home alone would cause practical hardship in initiating proceedings. The ruling settled the jurisdictional question in favour of allowing filing at either location.
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