The Rajasthan High Court has refused to shield an Indian Army Major and his mother in a dowry harassment case, holding that an officer’s military rank cannot become a reason to halt a criminal investigation.

Rejecting pleas to quash a First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the officer’s wife, the court also ruled that a nine-month delay in filing the complaint was not sufficient to throw out the case at the threshold.

Justice Munnuri Laxman was hearing two connected criminal miscellaneous petitions filed by the Army officer and his mother, challenging the FIR registered on April 20 for offences under sections 85 (cruelty to a woman by her husband or his relatives) and 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.

“The rank of the petitioner is not relevant for the investigation to be done in the present proceedings. There is no ground to interfere in the present matters by exercising the inherent jurisdiction of this Court,” the judge said on May 25, making it clear that social or professional status cannot interfere with the criminal justice process.

Although the high court dismissed the petitions seeking quashing of the FIR, it granted limited protection to the petitioners by directing police authorities to follow the safeguards laid down by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar judgment.

The petitioners’ counsel had argued that the Supreme Court’s guidelines against automatic arrests in offences punishable with imprisonment below seven years must be followed during the investigation.

Accepting this submission in part, the high court clarified that if the police intended to take coercive action during the probe, they must first comply with the procedural safeguards mandated by the apex court.

The Rajasthan High Court dismissed both criminal miscellaneous petitions and allowed the investigation in the dowry harassment case to proceed.