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The High Court noted that these grave allegations had arisen not in isolation, but against the backdrop of a long-simmering inheritance dispute.
According to the petitioners, the complainant’s husband i.e. Chand’s eldest son, had persuaded the old man in 2018 to sign a power of attorney. (Shutterstock)
The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court recently stepped in to quash criminal proceedings against an 85-year-old man accused by his daughter-in-law of molestation, assault and theft, holding that the case was nothing more than a family property quarrel dressed up as a criminal case.
The bench of Justice Rajesh Sekhri delivered the judgment in a petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (now Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita) filed by Nanak Chand and his two sons, seeking to quash an FIR registered at Police Station Nowshera.
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The complaint that triggered the case was filed by Chand’s daughter-in-law in September 2022. She alleged that Chand, along with his younger sons, had broken into her locked house, assaulted her, tore her clothes, outraged her modesty and decamped with jewellery and cash. Police booked the accused under Sections 457, 382, 354, 427, 323 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.
But the High Court noted that these grave allegations had arisen not in isolation, but against the backdrop of a long-simmering inheritance dispute.
According to the petitioners, the complainant’s husband ie Chand’s eldest son, had persuaded the old man in 2018 to sign a power of attorney. Chand later discovered that his son had simultaneously registered a will in his favour. On realising the misrepresentation, Chand cancelled both the will and the power of attorney and executed a deed disinheriting his son.
This act, the family claimed, set off years of acrimony, including a domestic violence complaint (later compromised before a Lok Adalat) and a civil suit challenging the deed of disinheritance. The families also traded counter-allegations of assault, leading to multiple FIRs. Against this background, the petitioners argued, the 2022 FIR was clearly a retaliatory move designed to pressurise the elderly father into reversing his stand.
Justice Sekhri agreed, remarking that the allegations strained credulity. “Allegations that an 85-year-old father-in-law, along with his sons, assaulted his daughter-in-law, tore her clothes, outraged her modesty and stole away gold and cash in broad daylight are not only absurd and inherently improbable, but it is manifest that these allegations are actuated with malice,” the court observed.
Court relied on the Supreme Court’s rulings in State of Haryana v Bhajan Lal (1992), State of Karnataka v L Muniswamy (1977) and Salib @ Shalu @ Salim v State of UP (2023). These decisions affirm that high courts, while exercising inherent powers, are duty-bound to prevent criminal law from being used as an instrument of personal vengeance.
“It is the duty of the court to prevent the proliferation of baseless litigation at the earliest available opportunity…A civil dispute may be camouflaged and given a criminal texture with a veiled object of persecution rather than prosecution of an accused,” Justice Sekhri wrote.
He cautioned that skillfully drafted complaints can create an illusion of criminal wrongdoing when the underlying facts point to no such offence. Courts, he stressed, must look “beyond the form to the substance” of such allegations.
Holding that the complaint was rooted in malice arising from the son’s disinheritance, and that the allegations were not borne out by independent witnesses, the High Court quashed the FIR in its entirety.
“The case on hand is an unfortunate family feud amongst an 85 years old father, his son and daughter-in-law… It is manifest that a pure civil dispute is sought to be camouflaged and given a criminal texture,” the court concluded.
About the Author
Salil Tiwari, Senior Special Correspondent at Lawbeat, reports on the Allahabad High Court and courts in Uttar Pradesh, however, she also writes on important cases of national importance and public interests fr…Read More
Salil Tiwari, Senior Special Correspondent at Lawbeat, reports on the Allahabad High Court and courts in Uttar Pradesh, however, she also writes on important cases of national importance and public interests fr… Read More
September 08, 2025, 13:28 IST
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