The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the criminal cases registered against the parents-in-law of a woman who alleged that she had suffered a miscarriage and had been harassed by her husband and in-laws, saying the allegations reeked of an “ulterior motive of pressurising” her estranged husband to agree to divorce.

A bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K.V. Viswanathan passed the verdict while allowing the appeal filed by the in-laws challenging the refusal of the trial court and Bombay High Court to quash the cases registered under IPC Sections 498A (harassment of married woman) and 312/313 (causing miscarriage voluntarily) registered by the woman against the in-laws and her estranged husband in Latur district of Maharashtra.

The husband died during the pendency of the appeal in the Supreme Court, hence the case stood abated against him.

The apex court noted that the complaint was lodged after the complainant gave the divorce notice wherein there was not even a whisper of the allegation of cruelty or the claim of miscarriage.

The court said the alleged incident took place in 2016 whereas the complaint was filed after the divorce notice was given in 2018.