Section 498A of IPC
Section 498-A: Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty — “Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine”
On 15th May’2020, Justice Jaishree Thakur of Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case of Amarjit Kaur & ors. Versus Jaswinder Kaur & ors stated that “it has become a common practice to use the provisions of Section 498 – An Indian Penal Code (IPC) as a weapon rather than shield by disgruntled wives”.
The Bench stated that, “The simplest way to harass is to get the relatives of the husband roped in under this provision, no matter they are bed ridden grandparents of the husband or the relatives living abroad for decades”.
The Court further held that,
- The complainant has failed to make out a prima facie case against the petitioners regarding allegation of inflicting physical and mental torture to the complainant or demanding dowry from her.
- The complaint does not disclose specific allegation against the petitioners except casual reference of their names that husband of the complainant gave her beatings at the instance of petitioners.
The Hon’ble High Court relied on the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Geeta Mehrotra Vs. State of U.P. (2012) 10 SCC 741 and quashed the FIR registered against the unmarried sister of the husband on the ground that prima facie case was not attracted against her in the absence of specific allegations.
The Court further stated that the case in hand is a sheer abuse of process of law and therefore, is a fit case to exercise the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. and therefore the subsequent proceedings including the orders were quashed.
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It is evident that dowry is a social evil, whose greedy roots are rooted in each and every part of our country. Section 498 A, of Indian Penal Code, is one of the greatest rescues for Violence against woman, which sadly is a reflection of the unfortunate reality of domestic violence occurring within the four walls of a house.
Today however, Section 498 A, is among the most debatable sections regarding women, as it is claimed that it is more often misused than used. With the rise in the rate of education, financial security, and modernization the independent and the radical feminists have also made Section 498A of IPC, as a weapon in their hands. Thus many helpless husbands and their relatives have become the victims of the vengeful daughters-in-law of their house.
These days in many cases where Sec 498A is invoked, they turn out to be false cases (and this is time and time repeatedly accepted by the High Courts and Supreme Court of India), and as blackmail attempts by the wife (or her close relatives) when troubled with a stressed marriage. Because of which in most cases the Section 498A complaint is generally followed by the demand of huge amount of money to settle the case outside the court.
As per section 468 CrPC, the complaint regarding the offenses under 498A must be filed within the time period of 3 years from the time the alleged last incident of cruelty happened.
Section 498A clearly attracts the limitation as stipulated in Section 468 of The Criminal Procedure Code, however we frequently notice FIRs being registered against husbands and their relatives even after a decade of the marriage in which period not a single complaint is recorded by the wife against the husband and/or his relatives.
The Supreme Court in various judgements recently have highlighted the growing misuse of Section 498A IPC.
Approach:
It is important that the perspective of the state and the people changes from potential “misuse” of the concerned laws of domestic violence and Section 498A to that of implementing it for their real purpose and to recognize that any such type of violence is a crime and to protect women who have shown the courage and stood up to file complaints against their abusers.
