The Bombay High Court has discharged a 60-year-old man and his wife in a cheating case lodged by their son's girlfriend, observing that the offence was not made out against them.
Justice A M Badar was hearing a petition filed by the city-based couple seeking discharge in the case registered against them in May 2013.
The 26-year-old girlfriend of the couple's son had lodged a case with the police against him alleging that he raped her on several occasions after a false promise of marriage.
The woman also claimed that after she complained, the man brought his parents to the police station and they gave her a written assurance that her marriage would be solemnised.
However, the man's parents later refused to get them married claiming that their horoscopes had not matched, she said in the complaint. Following this, the woman lodged the case in May 2013.
The court, after perusing the facts of the case, observed that the offence of cheating was not made out against the parents.
"Even if the facts are taken on face value then also it is seen that the petitioners attempted to bring the matter to a logical end by solemnising the marriage of their son with the prosecutrix, but subsequently, the mismatch of the horoscope could not bring the desired result," the high court observed last week.
"Merely because of these subsequent happenings, the revision petitioners cannot be directed to stand for the charge as sought to be levelled by the prosecutrix," it said.
"In the case in hand, perusal of the charge sheet does not show that the petitioners have fraudulently or dishonestly induced the prosecutrix by deceiving her," the court said.
The court also observed that an inquiry carried out by the police before registration of the FIR does not demonstrate an iota of evidence against the petitioners.
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