New Delhi: Accepting the plea that their estranged daughter-in-law had filed false complaints to wreak vengeance, the Supreme Court has quashed a dowry harassment case against a US-based husband and his family members.

"Authority of the court exists for advancement of justice and if any attempt is made to abuse that authority so as to produce injustice, the court has power to prevent abuse.

It would be an abuse of process of the court to allow any action which would result in injustice and prevent promotion of justice," a three-judge bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat, Lokeshwar Singh Panta and P Sathasivam observed in a judgement.

Citing its earlier ruling in the Bhajan Lal case, the apex court said a criminal proceeding can be quashed if it is manifestly attended with malafide or where the proceedings are maliciously instituted with an ulterior motives for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge.

The apex court passed the ruling while quashing the cases filed under the Dowry Prohibition Act and Section 498 IPC (harassment of wife by husband and/or other family members) against Sundar Babu, who is based in the US, and his family members by his then wife Sukanya.