The Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed the First Information Report (FIR) filed against Indian rower Dattu Bhokanal on charges of cheating and harassing his wife.
A Division Bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre was hearing a plea filed by Mr. Bhokanal (28), who won the gold medal for rowing at the 2018 Asian Games, to quash the FIR.
His wife, a constable with the Nashik rural police filed a complaint against the rower on May 16 under Sections 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC.
She alleged that he physically and mentally harassed her between December 2017 and March 2019 by promising to marry her formally but he didn’t and that led to a major financial loss for her.
According to her, they married secretly in December 2017 in Pune and that he had promised to marry her formally in February this year in Chandwad but did not. She also claimed that he threatened to consume poison if she didn’t stop pestering him to marry her.
Mr. Bhokanal moved HC on June 26, 2019, saying that he will not be able to participate in the World Rowing Championship in Austria from August 25 to September 1, if the charges against him are not quashed.
On Wednesday, the advocate appearing for Mr. Bhokanal said he could not get the marriage registered on the said date because he had a sports event.
The court accepted the submission and said, “There is no material to prove the charges against him.”
