Prasanta Kumar Dhar & Anr. v. State of West Bengal & Anr., Criminal Appeal arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 16908 of 2024, decided on 05.10.2026 | Citation: 2026 INSC 1087
In matrimonial disputes, the husband’s relatives can be prosecuted only if there are specific, distinct allegations of active involvement, backed by prima facie material, such as the occasions of the dowry demand, independent witnesses or details of property entrusted. Sweeping, omnibus allegations that only repeat the complainant’s own version, without supporting investigation material, are not enough, and continuing the case against such relatives is an abuse of the process of law that the High Court should quash under Section 482 CrPC. The court also made clear that this does not mean relatives can never be prosecuted, since each case turns on its facts.
The Supreme Court has quashed a dowry harassment case against a husband’s elderly parents, holding that vague, general allegations against in-laws, with no supporting material, cannot justify putting them through a criminal trial. The wife married in February 2021, lived with her in-laws in Siliguri after her husband’s transfer, and had a daughter in July 2023. After she left the matrimonial home, she filed an FIR in November 2023 against her husband and his parents under Sections 498A, 406, 506 and 323 IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act. She alleged dowry demands, including a four-wheeler, taunts, lack of care during pregnancy and after the birth of a girl, and that her father-in-law and husband forced her to sign a document saying she had received all her streedhan. The Calcutta High Court quashed only the Section 323 charge, and the parents came to the Supreme Court. Justices Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh and N.V. Anjaria went through each charge. They found no material of cruelty by the parents, and no particulars of when or how dowry was demanded, no independent witnesses and nothing beyond the wife’s own words. They found no details of any property entrusted to them for Section 406. On the Section 506 charge of intimidation, the only support for the allegation of coercion into signing the streedhan document was the complaint and her parents’ statements. Citing Bhajan Lal, Arti Mehta and Geddam Jhansi, the court warned against dragging every family member into a criminal case without specific allegations, and said that criminalising domestic disputes without credible material can harm the family itself. It quashed the case against the parents, but made clear that the husband’s case, which was not before it, continues and that its remarks do not close any civil remedy for the wife.