Friday, Apr 26, 2024 | Last Update : 03:29 PM IST
Bombay HC junks dowry harassment FIR against woman
The suicide note by D’souza said that his wife had filed a false case against him, due to which he was not allowed to meet his kids.
Mumbai: Two years after a man committed suicide, the Bombay high court (HC) on Monday quashed and set aside an FIR filed by the deceased man’s wife against his mother for alleged dowry harassment. The FIR was quashed because as per the complaint, the mother-in-law would taunt complainant and there was no evidence to prove dowry harassment.
The husband of the complainant, Cavalon D’souza, had committed suicide in 2016. He wrote a suicide note stating that his wife had filed a false case against him and that he was not allowed to meet his two children.
“Finally, I have got justice. But I will never get back what I have already lost. I lost my son on December 9, 2016 and my husband died of shock within two weeks after him,” said petitioner Connie D’souza, the mother-in-law.
Ms D’souza’s lawyer Shehzad Naqvi said that they had submitted a copy of Cavalon’s suicide note before the court. “We also brought to the court’s notice that nowhere in the FIR it is mentioned that the mother-in-law had demanded dowry from the complainant,” said Mr Naqvi.
Cavalon married the complainant in October 2007 and the couple have two children. In 2015, the wife registered an FIR against Cavalon and Ms D’souza. She even filed for divorce. Due to his wife’s complaints, the court had restricted Cavalon from meeting his children.
On December 9, 2016, Cavalon committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Andheri. In January 2017, Ms D’souza moved the HC with a request to quash the FIR against her. The division bench of Justices R.M. Savant and S. K. Shinde observed that neither the FIR nor any material uncovered during the investigation attributes any role to the present applicant to hold that she has committed offence of dowry harassment.
The judges also noted that the only allegation against Ms D’souza is that she would taunt the complainant.
“There is nothing on the record to indicate that the petitioner was making any unlawful demand,” observed the bench while quashing the FIR against Ms D’souza.
