The Delhi high court has pulled up a woman for harassing her elderly in-laws in a dowry case in India even though she is a US citizen and the alleged offence, if any, was supposedly committed there.
Quashing the FIR against Sanjeev Majoo, his parents and brother under Section 498-A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Justice Shiv Narayan Dhingra said, “The complainant, a citizen of USA, had all along lived in the USA with her son and husband, away from her in-laws but filed this FIR against her mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law and husband to use the criminal justice system as a tool of vengeance.”
While allowing the petition of the Majoo family, the court said, “The complainant’s reported allegations of cruelty are in the USA. No offence was committed within the jurisdiction of this country. Thus, no offence could have been registered against any of the petitioners/accused under Sections 498-A or 406 (Criminal breach of trust) of the IPC in India.”
The court also made it clear that all accused persons who commit crimes in India can be tried here whether they are foreigners or Indians, but the IPC debars the scope of applicability of territorial jurisdiction to Indian courts to try a case, cause of action of which had taken place outside the geographical limits in respect of Indian citizens.
The court was hearing an appeal filed by Sanjeev, accusing his wife Ruchi of slapping false cases against them. The couple got married in December 1996 at Delhi.
Since they had US citizenship, they went back to that country after marriage and had a son.
But things started turning sour soon after and they got into a legal battle. In 2009, Ruchi registered a case against Sanjeev and his family members.
After going through her statement in the California court, Justice Dhingra, said, “It is apparent her in-laws had no say in their married life. In California, she said all her jewellery was in her US house. However, in the FIR, she suddenly discovered that she had a locker in Udaipur. But, she did not disclose the locker number and what jewellery was in it.”