Bombay HC quashes wife’s FIR against doctor husband over too much work stress in pandemic

Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed an FIR filed by a wife against her husband in which she said their marital life was badly hit by too much work stress during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in Maharashtra.
Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed an FIR filed by a wife against her husband in which she said their marital life was badly hit by too much work stress during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in Maharashtra.
Quashing the FIR, the division bench of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik were happy to note that the couple had decided to patch up and move ahead. After the court was informed about this by the lawyers, the court decided to speak to the couple themselves. However, only the wife who had registered the cases against her husband connected through video conferencing.
The court wanted to interview the husband as well but the wife, who is living in Pune, said her husband works at a government-run hospital and was on duty. She told the court, “In March and April when the coronavirus-related work had increased in hospitals, there was too much of stress. We were working 18 hours every day and this led to lot of misunderstanding.” She went on to register a domestic violence case in the neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad area.
The wife who worked as a microbiologist said that the couple had been married for 20 years and they have two children. The court asked her if she had voluntarily decided to seek the quashing of the case? The wife said that it was a voluntary decision and that she had even come back to live in her marital residence with her husband and children in September itself.
Justice Shinde went on to speak about his friends who work in government-run hospitals and observed how stressed everyone was during the pandemic. He added, “We have tremendous respect for doctors and the work that they have done in such times.”
The court was satisfied with the interview and decided to quash the case even as one of the lawyers interjected. To this, Justice Shinde said that the court was ready to quash the FIR and did not want to hear the case any further. Justice Karnik quipped, “Miya biwi raazi, heard of that?” The court wished the couple their best wishes for future and wound up the case.