Srinagar: In a significant ruling safeguarding individuals from being unnecessarily subjected to trial, the Court of the Sub-Judge, Srinagar Junaid Imtiyaz Mir has dropped the domestic violence proceedings against five relatives of the husband after finding that the complaint contained only vague and omnibus allegations against them.
The Court held that the complaint failed to attribute any specific role or act of domestic violence to Respondent Nos. 4 to 8 and that their mere relationship with the husband could not justify their continued prosecution. Consequently, the Court dropped the proceedings against them and deleted their names from the array of respondents and vacated all interim directions against them.
Appearing for the Respondents, Adv. Mustahsun Mattu assited by Adv. Qazi Athar argued that vague and generalized allegations, particularly where no domestic relationship exists with the aggrieved person, cannot be made the basis for compelling the relatives of the husband to face trial. They contended that permitting such proceedings to continue would amount to an abuse of the process of law.
Accepting the contention in so far as Respondent Nos. 4 to 8 were concerned, the Court held that no prima facie case was made out against them and accordingly terminated the proceedings against the said respondents.
This marks the second such success for the legal team within a week. Earlier, the Court of the City Magistrate, Srinagar, had also dropped the domestic violence proceedings against the relatives of a husband in another case, where they too were represented by same legal team reinforcing the principle that family members cannot be compelled to face trial in the absence of domestic relationship, specific and substantiated allegations.
