498A Case

Q.
What is the difference between quashing, withdrawing and compromising 498A case
against you?
A. Following are the terms used by lawyers and judges and police.
Setting aside- When a party gets aggrieved by any order of a lower court, a revision petition is filed to
set aside that order.
Quashing- When a party is aggrieved by a judgment, an appeal is filed to quash the judgment.
Expunction -When a party is aggrieved by certain observations/findings and not necessarily the
order/judgment, then the higher court is petitioned to expunge the portions objected.
Withdrawing-When a complainant no more wants to pursue a case, s/he prays the trial court for
withdrawal of the case. If the court is satisfied, then it orders as "dismissed as withdrawn". Since 498a
is a cognizable criminal case, she cannot withdraw without your consent.
Compromise-Settle the matter outside the court and inform it to close the case.
Reconciliation -Forgive and forget. The difference is that in compromise there may be terms and
conditions of settlement but in reconciliation no there are no terms and conditions.
Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code was inserted into the statute by Criminal Laws
(Amendment) Act, 1983. It provides for punishment upto three or years or fine or both, to the
husband or relative of such husband of a woman, who alleges that she has been subjected to
cruelty. Under our Criminal laws, some offences are compoundable, while some are non-
compoundable. Compoundable Offences are of less serious nature and can be mutually settled
between the parties without prior permission of the Court. These are offences like adultery,
causing hurt, defamation, criminal trespass etc. For Non-Compoundable offences, Court
permission is required before the parties can decide to mutually settle the matter among
themselves. Examples of such offences are theft, criminal breach of trust, voluntarily causing
grievous hurt, dishonest misappropriation of property etc. The Code of Criminal Procedure lays
down the list of offences that are compoundable. Section 498A does not feature among them.
The idea behind keeping offences under Section 498A as non-compoundable, non-bailable and
cognizable (i.e. arrest without warrant) is because it is considered to be a serious crime, not just
against the woman but also against the whole society. However, a few states like Andhra Pradesh
and Rajasthan have made amendments whereby Section 498A is compoundable offence in that
state. If a party wishes to compound a non-compoundable offence, especially Section 498A of
IPC, there is another way out. Under Section 482 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, the High
Court has inherent powers to intervene in a matter and allow the parties to mutually settle the
matter. This requires an application before the High Court stating that the parties want to
withdraw the Section 498A case, and wish to settle the matter amicably. The step by step
procedure is as follows, though there is no hard and fast rule regarding the same: File an
application before the High Court stating that you wish to withdraw the 498A complaint for
reasons stated thereof Please mention that this is an application for the High Court to exercise its
powers under Section 482 of CrPC Attach written affidavits from all members of your family
stating that they have no objection to this withdrawal It is better to mention the intention of all
parties to resolve the issue amicably, in case they are unable to attend the court proceedings
physically Regarding RTI, the same can be filed before the relevant PIO, who in this case would
be the police officer where the FIR was lodged. However, to obtain the court papers and other
documents, and to know which high court is listed to hear your matter, these information are
given to the parties as a matter of routine itself, it should not require a separate RTI. In case you
file this Section 482 application before the High Court through a lawyer, he will charge his fees,
so some amount of money might have to be spent on this.
What is the procedure of withdrawing a complaint filed under Section 498a?
Since the offence under Section 498a is a criminal offence, so for withdrawing the same
you will need to file an application of withdrawal of case to the High Court of jurisdiction.
Please mention that this is an application for the High Court to exercise its powers under
Section 482 of CrPC and attach written affidavits from all members of your family stating
that they have no objection to this withdrawal.
What is the procedure of withdrawing 498A case against husband? When Both the
parties decided to file for Mutual Consent Divorce?
When both the parties agree to withdraw the complaint, the husband has to file the
quash petition along with memo of understanding before the High Court and wife has to
present there and express her consent for the same. Then Section 498-A case will be
quashed. You can also document the settlement that has been agreed between you and
your husband and then file a Quash petition in HC and the case would be quashed.

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