Supreme Court stays criminal proceedings against Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the ongoing criminal proceedings against Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal in a case related to alleged fraud committed by a user of the matrimonial platform. The case stems from accusations that Shaadi.com failed to adequately verify the details of a man who allegedly used the website to defraud a woman of over ₹10 lakh.

A Bench comprising Justices Sandeep Mehta and Joymalya Bagchi passed the interim stay while hearing Anupam Mittal’s challenge to a Telangana High Court order that had refused to quash the case against him.

The dispute began with a complaint filed earlier this year by a woman who alleged that she met the accused man on Shaadi.com. According to the complaint, the man befriended her on the platform, gained her trust, and then extracted over ₹10 lakh under false pretences. When she demanded repayment, he allegedly threatened to morph and publish her photographs.

While Anupam Mittal was not named in the woman's original complaint, he was subsequently added as an accused during the investigation. The central allegation against Mittal is that Shaadi.com failed in its duty to verify the user’s identity before allowing him to interact with others on the platform.

Appearing before the Supreme Court, Mittal’s counsel argued that the case against him was entirely baseless and amounted to a misuse of the criminal process. It was submitted that Shaadi.com operates as an intermediary service, much like classified matrimonial advertisements in newspapers, and cannot be held criminally liable for the independent actions of its users.

Mittal also explained that the accused man had verified his profile using a mobile OTP (one-time password) but had opted not to upload any government-issued identification — a fact that was clearly displayed on his profile. The complainant, his legal team argued, chose to engage with him outside the platform voluntarily and was repeatedly warned by Shaadi.com’s safety guidelines against sharing sensitive financial details or transferring money to other users.

Telangana High Court’s Decision Earlier, the Telangana High Court had declined to quash the case, reasoning that the alleged offences carried sentences of less than seven years and therefore merited further investigation. The High Court chose not to weigh in on the merits of Mittal’s defence at that stage.

Supreme Court’s Intervention Taking note of these submissions, the Supreme Court granted an interim stay on all further proceedings in the case. The Court also sought a response from the Telangana Police to examine the allegations and the rationale behind adding Mittal as an accused.

Mittal was represented before the Supreme Court by Senior Advocates Atmaram Nadkarni and Gaurav Agarwal, along with Advocates Zulfiquar Memon, Waseem Pangarkar, Vivek Jain, Nadiya Sarguroh, and Swapnil Srivastava from MZM Legal LLP.

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