An Air Force officer, defending the charge of dowry death against him, emerged victorious following a 17-year- long legal battle, after the Supreme Court on Tuesday found no truth in the allegations against him and quashed the case against him and his family.
The officer, Manoj Kumar Sharma, had faint memories of his marriage that lasted for barely five months. It was in April 1999 Manoj married Nandini but the relationship did not last long as in September the same year, Nandini committed suicide by hanging at her matrimonial house in Ambala. The police found no foul play and closed the case in the year 2000. Even a Court of Inquiry conducted by the Indian Air Force did not find anything incriminating against the officer.
For the next five years, Manoj maintained cordial relations with his in-laws till one day on May 29, 2005 when Nandini’s brother lodged a fresh FIR in Chhattisgarh alleging that his sister was murdered which led to registration of FIR against Manoj and his family under Sections 304B (dowry death) and 498A (dowry harassment).
Before the trial court and Chhattisgarh High Court, Manoj failed to prove his innocence but it was the Supreme Court which examined the plight of an officer who complained that the fresh FIR was based on anonymous letters and was a “malicious prosecution” to torture him and his family.
The “extraordinary” delay to lodge the fresh FIR made the bench of Justices Madan B lokur and RK Agarwal suspect the truthfulness of allegations. It further held that the Chhattisgarh court had no business to try the case as the offence took place at Ambala, Haryana.
Even the allegations in the FIR were declared “inherently improbable” as the bench said, “In the case on hand, malicious prosecution was instituted by the brother of the deceased…the allegations are vague and do not warrant continuation of criminal proceedings against the appellants.”