Mapusa, Feb 11 (TOI): The high court of Bombay at Goa quashed an FIR and chargesheet filed against judge Dvijple V Patkar after it found no credible material to proceed against her in connection with a case of alleged cruelty and dowry demand filed by her brother's wife.

A division bench comprising justice F M Reis and justice K L Wadane observed, "We find that there is no credible material to proceed against the petitioners No. 2 (Jaya V Patkar) and 3 (Dvijple) with necessary particulars of the role played by each of them in commissioning the alleged offence and, as such, the petitioners should not be made to suffer the ignominy of a criminal trial based on such material."

Vina Patkar had, on November 3, 2014, filed a complaint at the Margao town police station stating she was subjected to harassment by her husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law in order to meet dowry demands. The judicial officer had challenged the FIR and chargesheet filed against her before the high court.

The high court found that the allegations against the petitioners were sans any specific particulars that would have met the ingredients of committing an offence under Section 498A of the IPC and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.

Senior advocate S S Kantak, who appeared for the petitioners, argued that merely claiming an amount in the context of a custom prevailing in the community cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be considered to be an unlawful demand.

"Even assuming that the said two claims by petitioners No. 2 and 3, alleged by the respondent No. 2 (Vina) are accepted, such customary payments in connection with birth of a child or other ceremonies prevalent in different societies, are not enveloped within the ambit of dowry," the high court held, relying on an apex court judgement.