Hyderabad, Dec. 21 -- The Supreme Court has ruled that a husband asking his wife to account for household expenses does not constitute cruelty under Indian Penal Code Section 498A, while quashing an FIR filed by a Hyderabad-based woman against her US-based software engineer husband and his family members in 2022.

The couple, both software engineers, married in 2016 and lived together in the United States until 2019, when their son was born.

Following marital discord, the wife returned to Hyderabad with their child. In 2022, when the husband sent a legal notice seeking restitution of conjugal rights, the wife filed a complaint at Saroornagar Women's Police Station under domestic violence and dowry harassment laws.

In her complaint, the ...