BENGALURU: The high court of Karnataka has set aside the conviction of a 46-year-old man under Section 498A (married woman subject to cruelty) as the complaint was made by his second wife which would make the marriage null and void. Justice S Rachaiah in the judgement recently said, “Once PW.1 (complainant) is considered as second wife of the petitioner, obviously, the complaint filed against the petitioner for the offence ought not to have been entertained.“ ”In other words, a complaint filed by the second wife against the husband and her in-laws is not maintainable. The courts below committed error in applying the principles and also the law on this aspect. Therefore, interference by this court in exercising the revisional jurisdiction is justified,” it said.
Kantharaju’s second wife, who lived with him for five years and had a son, accused him of cruelty after she became incapacitated. The trial court convicted him on January 2019, and the Sessions Court upheld it in October. However, HC dismissed the case, stating that a second wife couldn’t file a complaint under Section 498A.