Delhi HC orders lawyer involved in dispute with ex-wife to do 10 pro bono cases

Delhi HC orders lawyer to take up 10 pro bono cases after wife withdraws matrimonial dispute-related cases. HC deplores use of children to “harass or intimidate” parties in matrimonial battles. Quashes criminal proceedings as parties have already come to a compromise.

In an unusual order, the Delhi High Court has ordered a lawyer to take up ten cases for free while quashing two matrimonial dispute-related cases lodged against him by his wife.

In the order dated August 29, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma was of the view that the chances of conviction, in this case, would be “bleak, given that the complainant (ex-wife) does not wish to pursue the present complaints on account of the amicable settlement”.

The case stems from a police complaint filed by the woman in December 2020, alleging that the husband demanded dowry from her, subjected her to mental as well as physical abuse, and caused a threat to her life. In the same month, the woman filed another complaint alleging that the man inappropriately touched their daughter.

During the course of the hearing, the woman told the High Court that the first complaint was filed as a result of a matrimonial dispute with the man while the second one was lodged on account of a misunderstanding. She submitted that she has amicably resolved all her differences with her husband and has already been granted talaq (divorce) in May 2023.

The High Court remarked that there is a “growing tendency” among parties to make grave allegations against one another “merely to win matrimonial battles”. It also strongly deprecated “the practice of children being used as an instrument to set the criminal justice in motion solely to harass or intimidate the other party”.

However, taking into account the fact that the parties have already come to a compromise, the High Court said it would adopt a pragmatic approach and quash the criminal proceedings “for justifiable reasons”.

“In such circumstances, continuance of the present FIRs would serve no useful purpose and may cause prejudice to the petitioner and be an exercise in futility,” Justice Sharma said. Subsequently, he directed the husband, a lawyer by profession, to do ten pro bono (free of cost) cases.