Section 498A IPC — Repeat FIR After Acquittal · 28 May 2023
Rupen Dhar & Ors. v. The State of West Bengal & Ors.: Second Section 498A FIR on Same Allegations After Earlier Acquittal Quashed
High Court at Calcutta · 2023 LiveLaw (Cal) 142
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A woman had filed an FIR in 2016 under Section 498A IPC against her husband and his relatives, alleging physical and mental torture going back to 2011 and that she had been driven out of the matrimonial home. That case went to trial and ended in the acquittal of all the accused in 2019; she did not appeal. About four months after the acquittal, she filed a second FIR against the same people, alleging essentially the same facts — physical and mental torture, and being driven out of the home — without any new incident or cause of action.
The Calcutta High Court quashed the second FIR. It noted that the allegations in both FIRs were nearly identical, that no appeal had been filed against the earlier acquittal, and that the timing and repetition of the second complaint pointed to an intent to harass rather than a genuine new grievance. The Court also found the complaint vague and omnibus, holding that merely reciting the language of Section 498A without setting out the specific role each accused person played is not sufficient to sustain a prosecution.
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