Misuse of Cruelty By Women : A Burn Of Draconian

Law

Introduction
Women needs to maintain dignity, integrity and respect after marriage because as an individual one
should always maintain its personality. As marriage in India is considered to be an auspicious and
sacred ritual in India and when it comes to marriage we often link Dowry with marriage. Dowry is
largely practiced in India and dowry often refers to some of durable goods as in television sets or
cars or jewelleries, home equipments , cash and real or movable property like land, flats, house etc.
that the bride’s family gifts to the bridegroom. In earlier times dowry was considered as a blessing
but now it has become similar to a curse and more of a way to show the society the status of a per-
son or of a family. Talking about dowry we also come to a point of discussing what usually happens
or some situations that are related to dowry as some are happy of what they are getting and many
are unhappy that they lead to cruelty and harassment towards their wife.
For such cruelty done by the husband or by his relative comes in a punishable offence under the
Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. The Section 498A was introduced in 1983 as to protect the
married women from being subjected to cruelty by husband or his relatives, this section was a tool
for women who were subjected to cruelty but now it is misused by the women to extract money and
to use it as a weapon of revenge. In the recent years the rate of report and cases of Section 489A has
been raised and many of the cases turns out to be false as they are more of blackmail attempts by
the wife when they are troubled with stressed marriage. In most cases Section 498A of cruelty is a
complaint which is generally followed by the demand of exorbitant money to settle the case outside
the court. The Section 498A is well grounded for the protection of ladies, the legislation has become
a curse to men within the society. The women started misusing these laws for their gain. Moreover
it can be contested that Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 for the protection or advantage of women.
These laws that were envisage to protect women are now being exploited in the hands of women.
Men are now being exploited by their ladies, few studies state that there's no such law to shield the
men from exploitation. The Section 498A was enacted to meet dowry deaths, it’s objective was to
protect woman who is being harassed by her husband or relatives of husband and the act of harass-
ment would amount to cruelty under this Section 498A.
Glossary and Terms of Concept
The Section 498A being the centre of attraction there’s a need to know what this section of Indian
Penal Code(IPC) means and what it is and what other terms which are related to it like cruelty, ha-
rassment, relative etc.
Section 498A of IPC1(Section 498A, Indian Penal Code), According to this section if the husband or relative of
the husband torturing women and subjection her to cruelty. ‘Cruelty can either be mental or physi-
cal. It is difficult to straitjacket the term cruelty by means of a definition because cruelty is a rela-
tive term. What constitutes cruelty for one person may not constitute cruelty for another person’2(GV
Siddaramesh v State of Karnataka(2010)3 SCC 152), it doesn’t matter whether the cruelty is Physically, or emotion-
ally , or mentally harming the women the husband or his relative will be punished as with impris-
onment for 3 years and also be liable to pay fine. ‘The concept of cruelty and its effect varies from
individual to individual, also depending upon the social and economic status to which such person
belongs’.3(Gananath Pattnaik v State of Orissa(2002) 2 SCC 619)
Cruelty is not the only thing which usually happens many times the wife faces harassment also and
to be noted ‘every harassment does not amount to “cruelty” pithing the meaning of Section 498A.
For purpose of Section 498A, harassment simpliciter is not “cruelty” and it is only when harassment
is committed for the purpose of coercing a woman or any other person related to her to meet an un-
lawful demand for property, etc that it amounts to “cruelty” punishable under Section 498A of
IPC’.4(State of A.P v M Madhusudhan Rao(2008) 15 SCC 582)
Getting married and having a spouse specially when it’s about the wife, it does not mean that the
Husband or his Relative has the right to abuse her, harass her or subject her to cruelty. ‘The expres-
sion “Husband” covers a person who enters into a material relationship and under the colour of such
proclaimed or feigned status of husband subjects the woman concerned to cruelty in the manner
provided under Section498A, whatever be the legitimacy of the marriage itself for the limited pur-
pose of Section 498A. The absence of a definition of “Husband” to specifically include such per-
sons who contract marriages ostensibly and cohabit with such woman, in the purported exercise of
their role and status as “Husband” is no ground to exclude them from the purview of Section 498A
of IPC’.5(Reema Aggrawal v Anupam (2004) 3 SCC 199) The relatives being involved in this there’s requirement of
knowing concept of relatives. The Relative of Husband who is ‘in order to be covered under Section
498A of IPC one has to be a “Relative” of the husband by blood, marriage or adoption’.6(Vijeta Gajra v
State (NCT of Delhi) (2010) 11 SCC 618 Many times the husband have girlfriends and concubine but “a girl-
friend or a concubine being not connected by blood or marriage is not a “Relative” of the husband
as per the Section 498A’.7(U Suvetha v State (2009) 6 SCC 757)
The point which usually occurs is that who can file a complaint?
The complaint under the section 498A may be filed by the women aggrieved by the offence or by
any person related to her by blood, marriage or adoption, And if there is no such relative, then by
any public servant as maybe notified by the state government in this behalf.
And now after knowing about who can complain we come on a point of discussion that, When can
the court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under section 498A except upon a police
report of fact which constitute such offence or upon a complaint made by the person aggrieved by
the offence or by her father, mother, brother, sister or by her father’s or mother’s brother or sister.
The court can also take cognizance if the complaint is made by any other person related to her by
blood, marriage, or adoption with court’s permission.

A Statute For A Law

A statue means a law passed by a legislative body, a legislative body through the legislature makes
laws for the state and they write law for the citizens of the state. The law has made many sections
for the society for different kind of situations and issues which happens, or may arise in the society
just like of an issue we are taking on and few more provisions which are related and inter linked
with the Section 498A of IPC.
As Section 498A of IPC being the provision for women who face cruelty by their husband or his
relatives are said to be get punished for 3 years and liable for fine but now a days this law has been
misused in such a manner that it has become a way of revenge and to take money to settle the case
outside the court, also in such cases the police also take bribe from both the parties in various ways
like from the women(the complainant) to charge the husband and his relatives like his mother, fa-
ther, brother, sister and many times grandparents which is harassing for them as well as for the hus-
band too because many times the relatives are innocent. This law is unique in India as it not only
discriminates based on gender and this section is for almost women of all ages. This thing also ha-
rass and raises question on their rights, their Fundamental Rights have been provided to them by the
Indian constitution just like any other citizen. This harms their Right under Article 148(The Constitution of

India) that is equality before law, as they are also the normal citizens just like any other citizen of this
country but on just one complaint of section 498A of IPC, they get arrested by the police and then
they have to fight for that case, they get discriminated as they are men so they are dragged to the
police station many times they are dragged to different state’s police station. Also then this discrim-
inates them on the basis of sex, that is Article 159( The Constitution of Indian) We also come on the point of
the Article 2110(The Constitution of India) as the husband or his relatives are imposed under the section 498A
their right to life and personal liberty gets hurt, as told earlier they are dragged to police station on
just one complaint of section 498A and they are not questioned in a simple way they are taken to the
police station and get arrested many times until their lawyer comes and get them bailed. As seen in
Preeti Gupta vs. State of Jharkhand where the sister-in-law and brother-in-law of the accused were
dragged even the parents of the accused were dragged in this case.
Discussing about how men are harassed and how their rights are being violated and how they are
arrested just on filing complaint under Section 498A, this show the involvement of police such mat-
ters. As the Section 41of Criminal Procedure Code, as this Section of Cr. PC gives certain rights to
police to arrest someone without warrant. Any police officer can without an order of the Magistrate
and without a warrant any person who commits in their presence a cognizable offence, against
whom reasonable complaint has been made or information has been credited or there’s a reasonable
suspicion. As the police also has a major role in this, because when a complaint is filed the police
without arrest warrants arrests the husband or his relatives. The police then has to present the arrest-
ed person in front of the Magistrate within the 24 hours of his/her arrest.11(Section 41 Cr. P C)
The women file suits against their husband or his relatives on the demand of dowry, and dowry is a
punishable offence under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 196112(The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961) is intended to
prevent the giving or the receiving of a dowry. Under the Dowry Prohibition Act, dowry includes
property, goods, or money given by either party to the marriage, by the parents of either party, or by
anyone else in connection with the marriage. The Dowry Prohibition Act applies to persons of all
religions in India.

Judicial Evolution
Issues have arose in number though there is still a large number of true cases related to the section
498A but out of so many cases many comes out to be false like in a case the complainant Manisha
Poddar filed a FIR against the appellant Preeti and the other complainant Gaurav who were her sis-
ter-in-law and brother-in-law and also dragged their parents along with her husband stating that they
all (all the accused) demanded for a luxury car and also alleged that Manisha was physically as-
saulted at Mumbai, but there were no specific allegations against Both the appellant in the entire
complaint. Als it was brought in notice that appellant Preeti had been permanently residing with her
husband at Navasari, Surat (Gujarat) for the last more than seven years. She had never visited
Mumbai during the year 2007 and never stayed with respondent no.2 (Preeti) or her husband, it was
clearly alleged by both the appellants that they had been falsely implicated in this case and the
complaint against the appellants was without any basis or foundation. This shows that how the the
relatives are easily dragged in the section 498A and how their rights get violated.13( Preeti Gupta v State of
Jharkhand (2010) 7 SCC 667)

In a case the court in the judgement said that theSection 498A has been misused by the wife as
when this section is applied the police arrests the husband under the Section 41 of Cr.PC, as arrest
brings humiliation, curtails freedom and even it cast scars for forever. It is largely considered as a
tool of harassment, oppression etc. and the power of arrest is one of the lucrative sources of police
corruption. The Supreme Court said that no arrest should be made only because the offence is non-
bailable and cognizable and therefore, lawful for the police officers to do so. The existence of the
power to arrest is one thing, the justification for the exercise of it is quite another. Apart from power
to arrest, the police officers must be able to justify the reasons there of. In this case the appellant
was arrest by police under Section 498A and Section 4 and there were allegations that the mother
and father of the appellant has demanded eight lakhs, a Maruti car, an air conditioner, television set
etc. when this fact was brought in his notice he supported his mother and threatened to marry an-
other woman, it was also alleged that she was driven out of the matrimonial home due to the non-
fulfilment of the demand of the dowry. His attempt to secure anticipatory bail has been failed once
and then knocked the doors of the court for special leave petition and it was granted.14(Arnesh Kumar v
State of Bihar (2014) 8 SCC 273)

Similarly in a case the wife alleged physical and mental cruelty at the hands of the husband and ac-
cused him under Section 498A, IPC. The husband, however, denied all the charges and the Court
held that “Cruelty” for the purpose of Section 498-A IPC is to be established in the context of Sec-
tion 498-A IPC as it may be different from other statutory provisions. It should be determined by
considering the conduct of the man, weighing the gravity or seriousness of his acts and to find out
as to whether it is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide, etc. It is to be established that the
woman has been subjected to cruelty continuously or at least in close proximity of time of lodging
the complaint. The Court further held that petty quarrels cannot be termed as “cruelty” to attract the
provisions of Section 498-A IPC.15(Manju Ram Kalita v State of Assam (2009) 13 SCC 330) In this case the husband,
along with other relatives, was accused for causing cruelty to the wife in lieu of demand for dowry.
However, the other relatives demanded that there should be certain guidelines to prevent over-im-
plication. Thus, in most of the cases the relatives of the husband are also being dragged into Courts
in cases of Section 498A. However, it is not necessary that they have been party to the offence.
Thus, a question with respect to the need for directions to prevent misuse of Section 498A, IPC was
raised in the appeal. The Supreme Court laid down comprehensive directions to prevent the misuse
of the provision of Section 498A, IPC.16(Rajesh Kumar and others v State of U.P(2017) SCC 821)

Role of Judiciary, system plays and important role, as passing judgements is not easy but also it sets
an example that the court does just to everyone. As when Section 498A is misused the accused goes
to the apex court in order to ask for respect and protection against being violated by the deceased
and police in false allegation under the Article 14,15,21 and 32 of Indian constitution.

Role of Legislature in the misuse of Section 498A needs to be more active as there has been a lot of
false cases on this section. The legislature needs to to improvise the Section 498A so as the women
can’t misuse it against the innocents also we understand the violence that is done against the women
by their husband because of dowry but the legislature needs to bring down some amendments in the
Section 498A.

NGO’s, being the organisations NGO’s help women a lot but also they came for men too, as there is
an organisation and it is a strong team of Indian citizens (all around the world) who have joined
hands to fight the evil of 'misuse of 498a' (commonly known as dowry law). We are the mothers,
sisters, brothers, fathers, brother-in-law, sister-in-law of the innocent victims falsely implicated by
498a.
They campaign and create awareness about gross injustices and abuse that happen in Indian Legal
system. We are not against women, but we are against to those who misuse this law. We specifically
fight against:
1) Abuse of old, sick people, women and small kids, especially by Legal means when they are ar-
rested and put in jail (without investigation) just by one line of false complaint by their daugh-
ter-in-law. We want this law for daughter-in-law section 498a to be changed.
2) Counsellors from NGOs forcing men to disown parents and live as wishes of their wives and in-
laws.
3) Large scale NRI bashing by NGOs and by media without considering their great contribution to
making India a global power.
4) Draconian laws which are abused by dishonest daughter-in-law to victimise innocent mothers
an unmarried sisters.
5) Against those daughter-in-laws mentally and physically harassing old, sick in-laws and not pro-
viding them with proper food and healthcare. 17(498a.org)
The NGOs are coming up in support of the innocent husbands and their relatives, which shows that
equality do exists.
There has been few statistics published by the National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home
Affairs shows that arrest of 1,97,762 persons all over India were arrested in year 2012 for the of-
fence under section 498A and in these numbers 47,951 are the mothers and sisters of the husbands .
Also as many as 3,72,706 cases are pending trial of which on current estimate, nearly 3,17,000 are
likely to result in acquittal.

Suggestions
The Section 498A of IPC and its misuse has increased, it took a hype from pasta few years and the
number of false allegations on the husband and his relatives has also increased. First of all what
should be done is that the police needs to be more active and should not take bribe from any of the
parties whether its the wife or the husband. The police should not take advantage of their post and
status as they are directly or indirectly violating the fundamental rights. Thinking about what men
feel and through what trauma they go through and their family too. The judiciary needs to to look
after these matters more carefully and like in many cases the appeal for bail, special leaves get dis-
missed and the innocents remain jailed, even the old aged parents many times are unable to get bail.
The judiciary alone cannot do the whole work the legislature in such matters too needs to be more
involved as they need to amend and improve such laws with change in time, but looking into the
better side is that the NGOs coming up against such people who misuse the section 498A and trying
to awake the public as well as the government body more and there should be a better link between
the government body and the society needs an improvement.
Conclusion
After discussing so much about the section 498A we can conclude that there have been drawbacks
of this section and how badly the wives have used it. They were harsh with this on their husbands
and their relatives for even small reasons. The police also becomes greedy in such matters as they
try to take bribe from both the parties and threaten the innocent people. There have been so many
cases which might have not been in the landmarks judgements or so in which mother or grandmoth-
ers of age 60 and above who are even bedridden are dragged to police stations many times to police
stations of different states and are threatened badly. The point of views is changing but hasn’t
changed completely regarding this misuse, there’s still many cases which are false under this sec-
tion and are pending because many husbands and relatives does not get bail in many cases. All sec-
tions I.e the society, the legislature, the judiciary and the NGOs needs to work altogether and in
more effective way to help all the innocent husbands and their relatives who have become the vic-
tims of such wives/women.