The Supreme Court of India has quashed a First Information Report (FIR) filed by a woman who accused her husband and in-laws of deceiving her into marriage by falsely claiming he was an eye surgeon and concealing a skin condition. The top court ruled that there was no evidence of fraud or concealment, calling the FIR an “abuse of the legal process.”
The case, titled Rohan & Ors v The State of Gujarat & Ors, was heard by a Division Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran. The woman, who married the man in April 2023, alleged that she was misled into believing he was an eye surgeon, only to later discover he was actually an optometrist and suffered from leukoderma—a visible skin condition.
However, after reviewing WhatsApp chats and other evidence, the Bench observed that the woman was well aware of both his professional qualifications and his skin condition at the time of marriage.
“From all reasonable assumptions as well as the documents which have been placed before us, it is clear that the complainant had full knowledge that the appellant was suffering from skin disease and he was not an Eye Surgeon but an Optometrist,” the Court noted.
Further, the judges remarked that there was “no effort on his part to disguise or befool her” regarding his qualifications or health.
The FIR had initially been upheld by the Gujarat High Court, but the Supreme Court reversed that decision after finding no material to support the allegations. The Court concluded that the complaint did not disclose any cognizable offence and amounted to misuse of criminal proceedings.
The Bench, therefore, set aside the Gujarat High Court’s ruling and quashed the FIR.
Advocate-on-Record Somesh Chandra Jha, along with lawyers HB Shethna, Saumya Dwivedi, Akash Kishore, and Animesh Rajo, appeared for the appellants. Senior Advocate Purvish Jitendra Malkan led the team representing the respondent, assisted by Dharita Malkan, Alok Kumar, Kush Goel, Khushboo Aakash Sheth, Swati Ghildiyal, and Rishi Yadav.
Case: Rohan & Ors vs The State of Gujarat & Ors – Available on LAWFYI.IO
