Court rejects man’s plea to stop criminal proceedings after wife alleges blackmail

A city court has taken note of woman’s charge that her estranged husband had allegedly threatened to post obscene pictures, featuring her, on porn sites to secure a divorce. The court has rejected the man’s plea to stop criminal proceedings against him and his parents.

The woman had alleged that after she had lodged a domestic violence case against them, her husband had forcibly obtained her signatures on a divorce paper and raped her in a hotel.

She further alleged that before threatening to upload her obscene photographs on a porn site, he had also created a false profile in her name on a matrimonial site and uploaded an objectionable advertisement on another website.

Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Kumar dismissed the appeal filed by the accused against an order of a magisterial court, which had framed charges against the man and his parents in the case.

“From the material placed on record, I am of the opinion that cognisance was rightly taken by the trial court against the petitioner for the alleged offences,” the judge said.

The magisterial court had taken cognisance of the alleged offences punishable under Section 376B, 354D, 509, 506, 120B and 34 of IPC.

In her complaint filed in the magisterial court, the woman had said after getting married in August 2011, she had filed a case of domestic violence against her husband and in- law, alleging cruelty and criminal breach of trust.

“After filing of the domestic violence case, accused not only posted her photograph and a false profile on matrimonial site but also uploaded an objectionable advertisement on an internet website due to which a number of unknown persons started visiting her house causing harassment to her...Further, under the threat of uploading her pictures on porn sites, her husband obtained her signatures on divorce petition and took her to a hotel in Haryana and established physical relations against her will,” the complaint said.