Misuse of Section 498A under IPC by Priyanka Tiwari, Intern at ubAdvocate

Priyanka Tiwari
Intern At ubAdvocate- www.linkedin.com/company/ubadvocate
Pritiwari2890@gmail.com
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Misuse of section 498 A , IPC , 1860
Misuse of Section 498A under IPC
A violation of this section is done by women by creating frivolously false allegations against their husbands with the goal of getting some money or just paining the family. This section’s abuse is increasing chop-chop and therefore the ladies usually apprehend their husbands.

Section 498A was designed and inserted into the legal framework by the lawmakers with the idea of protecting women from cruelty, harassment and other offences. But when cross-investigations are performed to test the validity of these laws, the number of acquittals relative to convictions was greater. Thus, one who brought 498A into action conceiving it as a shield against cruelty for women, i.e., the Supreme Court, is now considering it as legal terrorism. Because misuse of Section 498A diminishes its true credibility. That is one of several reasons for calling it an anti-male law. Although there are widespread complaints, and even large-scale misuse has been recognized by the judiciary, there is no reliable data based on the empirical study regarding the extent of the alleged misuse.

In case of, Savitri Devi v. Ramesh Chand & Ors, the Hon’ble Court specifically regulates the abuse connected with the manipulation of the laws to such an extent that it was totally influenced by the influence of marriage itself and thus found not to be intelligent for the welfare of the giant community. The court considered that authorities and lawmakers had to review the case and the legal provisions to prevent it from happening.

In the case of, Saritha v. R. Ramachandran, the Court noted the reverse trend and requested a non-cognizable and bailable offence from the Law Commission and Parliament. However, it was the court’s requirement to condemn wrongdoing and to shield the victim from what happens once the victim becomes the abuser. Here is what remedy the husband will have. On this ground, the lady gets to divorce her husband and remarry or in the form of compensation may gain cash.

In the case of Anju v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi, In the case, the wife of the Petitioner challenged the order of the Lower Court, whereby the Court discharged the charges against the respondents under section 498A/34 of the Indian Penal Code.

In appreciating the facts of the case, the Court noted that in the FIR, the wife of the Petitioner in one breath named all members of the family without any specific role being assigned to any of them. Thus, no details were provided as to when the recorded instances allegedly occurred, or any facts to substantiate or corroborate the allegations against relatives of the spouse. The Court also noted that the allegations against the respondents were fairly general and unspecific. The plaintiff did not mention a date, time, month, or year when she was subjected to beating them. In view of the aforementioned facts and circumstances of the case, the High Court of Bombay upheld the order of the Revisional Court and held that the Court had made no mistake in concluding that, apart from the general and omnibus allegations that roped in all relations, there is no recorded material to justify the framing of charges under Section 498A IPC.

In the case of, Chandra Bhan v. State, the Hon’ble Court introduced the steps to prevent the misuse of this Section:

FIR should not be regularly reported as such;
Police endeavour should be to carefully screen complaints and then register FIR;
No case should be registered under section 498-A/406 IPC without the prior authorisation of DCP / Addl. DCP;
Before FIR registration, all possible reconciliation efforts should be made and, if it is found that there is no possibility of settlement, necessary steps should be taken in the first instance to ensure that stridhan and dowry articles are returned to the complainant;
The arrest of the key accused can only be made after a proper investigation and with the prior approval of the ACP / DCP has been performed;
In the case of collateral accused such as in-laws, prior approval of DCP should be there on the file.
In the case of, Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India and others, the Supreme Court held that the purpose of the provision is to prevent a threat to the dowry. But as the petitioner rightly satisfied that many instances have come to light where the complaints are not bonafide and are filed with oblique motive.

Hence, the question is what remedial steps can be taken to discourage misuse of the well-intentioned clause. Just because the provision is constitutional and intra vires, it does not allow unscrupulous people to wreck personal vendetta or unleash harassment.




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