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ABUSE OF POWER UNDER SECTION 498A

PROJECT SUBMITTED TO

Mr. Sagar Chandrakar

PROJECT SUBMITTED BY

Sankalp Parihar
Semester- V, Section- A
Roll no.- 142

DATE OF SUBMISSION
10/11/2021

HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY,

ABSTRACT

In India's last 20 years of criminal law reform, a recurrent argument levelled against laws
dealing to violence against women has been that women exploit such laws. Such "misuse"
claims were fiercely pushed by the police, civic society, politicians, and even High Court and
Supreme Court judges. Misuse was asserted, notably in relation to IPC Section 498A and
Section 304B's dowry deaths’ offence. Domestic abuse and harassment by partners and
family members are complicated actions that the institutional structure of courts and police
habitually continue to disperse as domestic violence situations. Sec 498A was enacted into
the IPC in 1983, and the government has not fully analyzed the developments in the last 20
years in terms of their deterrent aims, despite the institutionalization of law and policy to
criminalize domestic abuse. A research and development plan are urgently needed to improve
the current state of knowledge about the influence of legislative punishments on domestic
abuse. In the modern world, where both men and women are independent and earning, the
meaning of marriage, as well as the patriarchal position of a man and woman, has shifted
dramatically. Females also take advantage of laws created to protect women from abuse and
cruelty by making false charges against their husbands in order to get rid of them or tarnish
the family. This section's violence is on the rise, as well-educated women realize that it is
both cognizable and non-bailable, meaning that it can be triggered by a woman's simple
accusation, placing the male behind bars. After witnessing the widespread prevalence and
severity of recorded examples of female cruelty, Section 498A was enacted in 1983.

In this project, the points and cases of the courts are mentioned and discussed in order to
understand the misuse of the provisions of 498A and to view the courts’ response to these
situations.
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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................4

REVIEW OF LITERATURE.................................................................................................5

RESEARCH OBJETIVES......................................................................................................5

RESEARCH QUESTIONS.....................................................................................................5

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................................5

ANALYSIS................................................................................................................................6

SECTION 498A.....................................................................................................................6

INGRIDIENTS OF 498A..................................................................................................7

MISUSE OF SECTION 498A...............................................................................................7

DIRECTIONS BY THE SUPREME COURT...................................................................9

Family welfare Committee.............................................................................................9

Investigating Officer......................................................................................................9

Settlement.....................................................................................................................10

CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................10

SUGGESSTION.....................................................................................................................10

REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................11

Cases referred:......................................................................................................................11

Statutes:................................................................................................................................11

Website:................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION

The institution of marriage, especially in India is one of the oldest social institution which
gives the foundation on which a cordial society subsists in our current time. Stability in one’s
life and harmony between the members of this relation are important aspects to sustain the
marriage between two people. With the changing times and due to increase in education and
awareness amongst the citizens of the country, the female population has become more aware
of their rights and thus the meaning of stability of a marriage, which hanged upon one side,
has changed quite a bit in response to the mentioned increase in literacy amongst the
population. The crimes against women such as dowry deaths, honor killing, sati, domestic
violence, marital rape etc., existed in the society from time immemorial but most of these
atrocities are committed within the institution of marriage and India being a country where
the customs and cultures of the past are praised, these women did not have many remedies for
the crimes committed on them or rather they were not aware enough about the available
remedies due to low literacy amongst women in the previous century.

Dowry is one such crime which had existed in India for a very long time. Dowry means a
specified sum of money or an agreed amount of property or asset or land which is transferred
to the husband’s name in the pretext of marriage. Dowry can also be the amount of assets
which a bride brings with her when she moves to a new house. With this being a custom in
the Hindu religion, it was doomed to be misused and the same happened. There were
increasing number of cases where a bride was harassed by the family of the bridegroom to
ask for more cash or property from her parental home in the name of dowry. With these
atrocities being brought upon the women in the entire country, the Indian central government
finally came out with the ‘Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961’ in order to protect and safeguard
women. With the inception of this parliamentary act, section 498A was also incorporated
later in 1983 and acted as a shield for women and protected them from the atrocities of their
in-laws.

With this law, the government hoped for a society where there would be less atrocities on
women and harmony in the relationships but with the passage of time there have been news
about the gross misuse of section 498A by the females in order to falsely implicate the
members of the husband’s family. In this assignment is an analysis of Section 498A and its
alleged misuse coupled with the stance of judicial system of the country in the concerned
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matter.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Various online directories such as ‘legal service India’ and others were used to gather
information on the topic ‘Abuse of Power under Section 498A’. Though these directories
provided exhaustive knowledge on the section and its inception in 1983, there were no
apparent display of abuse of the section in our judicial system. The sources lacked multi-
dimessional approach to the topic. However, in the book ‘The Indian Penal Code’ by Ratanlal
and Dhirajlal, the section has been defined with its various aspects such as inclusion or/and
difference between provisions under section 498A and section 304B. This project is based
upon the information provided under these sources and the bare act of ‘Indian Penal Code,
1860’ is used to define the section as and when required.

RESEARCH OBJETIVES
The project aims –
1. To understand the provisions of section 498A.
2. To understand the extent of misuse of certain provisions of the section.
3. To understand the directives of the court regarding the section, if any.
4. To understand the reasoning of the court to intervene in the matters of this provision.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What is Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860?
2. How has the section been misused in the recent times?
3. What are the reasons behind the intervention of the court in said matter?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To compile this work, non-doctrinal method of research has been used. Various sources such
as books and online directories have been used and the information derived from them have
been compiled and illustrated in a manner that answers the research questions
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ANALYSIS

SECTION 498A

Section 498A- Cruelty by husband or relatives of husband. This section states that “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”1. Under this section, any act done willfully by the husband or the
relatives of the husband which may, down the line, can cause the loss of life of wife by way
of suicide or may cause a grave danger to life, limb, well-being or health, including both
mental and physical health, of the wife may come under the ambit of cruelty. Also, under this
section, harassing a woman or a relative of such women in a manner as to coerce the woman
or such relative into an unlawful deal or using such harassment to meet an unlawful demand
such as transfer of property or valuable security will amount to cruelty. Harassment done on
account of the wife or her relative neglecting such unlawful demands will also be considered
as cruelty.

The phrase ‘cruelty’ has been explained and interpreted in broader terms to include physical
as well as mental harm to the body of a woman or causing deterioration in the health
condition of the woman. The word also incorporates acts which indulges in harassment in
order to coerce a person for valuable assets. The section was added in the “Indian Penal
Code” to deal with the threats of dowry deaths to the woman. This act was incorporated by
“Criminal Law Reform Act, 1983”2 which also introduced section 113A to the ‘Indian
Evidence Act’. The aim of section 113A of ‘Indian Evidence Act’ was to raise the bar in
which the judge presumes abetment in suicide by a married woman. Harassment can also be
included in the ambit of cruelties as it pushes a woman towards death to neglect the
continuous torture. The crime committed under section 498A are ‘cognizable’, ‘non-
bailable’ and ‘compoundable’.

1
Indian Penal Code Section 498A, Act No. 45, Acts of Parliament, 1860. (India) amended by Criminal Law
(Second Amendment) Act, 1983(46 of 1983).
2
Act 46 of 1983
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INGRIDIENTS OF 498A

Below are the necessary conditions that are needed to be fulfilled to constitute an offence
under section 498A.
1. The victim must be married i.e., the woman must have a husband,
2. She must have gone through ‘harassment’ or have been subjected to ‘cruelty’,
3. The ‘harassment’ or acts of ‘cruelty’ must be done by her husband or relatives of her
husband.

The definition of the section in the Indian penal code suggests that the word ‘cruelty’ is
invoked when the following condition are invoked-
1. Any act done or any behavior, willful in nature, which leads a woman to commit
suicide or which can cause serious damage to limb, life of a woman,
2. An act which may affect the mental consciousness of a woman,
3. Any act done or omitted which can lead to be defined as harassment of the woman.
An act done to coerce a woman or any of her relative to transfer a valuable security
may also be deemed harassment.

In the case of, Kaliyaperumal vs State of Tamil Nadu, the court observed that “in certain
offences where under section 304B and 498A, cruelty may be a common element but the
offences are not inclusive of each other. Each offence initiated by the act of a guilty person
committed under section 304B that act will also be an offence under section 498A of IPC.
Section 304B does not specifically contains the definition of IPC but the concept of cruelty
mentioned under section 498A applies to 304B. Under section 304B the death should occur
within 7 years of marriage but no such time is specified under section 498A”3

MISUSE OF SECTION 498A

Misuse under this section can be defied as an act by women wherein the women files a
frivolous suit by placing false allegations against the husband with the intention of extorting
the husband or placing criminal charges against the husband and his family. Section 498A
was designed by the lawmakers with the intention of protection the woman from the horrors
of cruelty, harassment and other related offences but after cross-examination of the laws the
number of acquittals were found to be extremely high suggesting gross misuse of the law by

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AIR 2003 SC 3828
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women.
In the case of Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar, the complainant i.e., the wife alleged that
the husband asked for dowry from her and due to non-fulfillment of this demand she was
asked to leave her matrimonial home. The defendant in this case applied for an anticipatory
bail but that was rejected thus he approached the apex court by virtue of Article 136 that is
special leave petition. The apex court in the instance of this case viewed upon that fact that
“section 498A was initially inserted as a shield for suffering wives but it is now being used as
a weapon for harassing the husbands and relatives of the husband. The court also observed
that since 498A is an cognizable offence, it is possible that a mere grunt is being taken out on
the in-laws of the wife and keeping these in mind, the court laid down certain guidelines
which are to be followed by the authorities while making an arrest under section 498A of
‘Indian Penal Code, 1860’ and Section 4 of ‘Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961’. The court also
stressed that any arrest made should be made from reasonable satisfaction of the authorities
and even the magistrate must be careful while authorizing detention.”4

Similarly, in the case of Manju Ram Kalita vs State of Assam, the wife was alleging mental
and physical cruelty by the husband. The court in this case decided that “cruelty in a case of
498A shall be determined with the context of section 498A of IPC because cruelty in any
other provision of Indian law may differ from the provisions defined under 498A. The court
held that while assessing cruelty the conduct of a man, the gravity of his actions must be
examined and whether his actions were serious enough to drive the woman to commit
suicide. The court in this case held also aligned the time of lodging the complaint with the
acts of the husband by saying that it is to be established whether the woman was being
subjected to cruelty continuously or within the time close to filing a complaint. The court
iterated that petty quarrels amongst married couples cannot amount to cruelty” 5. The court
while deciding this case referred to the case of ‘S. Hanumanta Rao vs S. Ramani’ 6, for
arriving at the definition of mental cruelty.

In the case of ‘Bibi Parvana Khatoon vs State of Bihar’, the wife in this case was killed by
her husband as he had set her up on fire. The relatives of the victim roped in the brother and
sister in law of the husband. The court observed that “the accused were not even the resident

4
(2014) 8 SCC 273
5
(2009) 13 SCC 330
6
MANU/SC/0220/1999
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at the location of the crime and are not related to the case” 7. The court reiterated its concern
over misuse of section 498A as there was no proof that the two relatives which are named in
the first information report were an accomplice to the crime.

DIRECTIONS BY THE SUPREME COURT

In the landmark case of ‘Rajesh Kumar and Ors. vs State of Uttar Pradesh’, the court was
again faced by the question of setting up of direction to curb the misuse of section 498A.
While deciding the current case, the court came up with different directive to reduce the
exploitation of section 498A. The court suggested the following-

Family welfare Committee

The district legal service authorities must create a ‘Family Welfare Committee’ in every
district. The court said that this committee shall consist of at least 3 members. The members
under this committee can be social workers such as volunteers or retired government
personnel and wives of working government personnel. The court also forced upon the idea
that there shall be a regular review of the functioning and members of the said committee. A
district and sessions judge is asked to preside over the review committee. Being a
discretionary body, the committee is not allowed as a witness under any circumstance. The
committee is asked for a report in any instance and thus the report of the committee then can
be accessed by the investigating officer and the judge on their own convenience. The court
also asked that it’d me made sure that “No arrest should, in normal circumstances, be made
without considering the report by the committee.

Investigating Officer

The court asked for ‘investigating officers’ to be appointed and asked it to be done in a time
frame of one moth after the delivery of the judgment. The court also asked for training to to
be given to the assigned investigating officers to deal with matters under 498A.

Settlement

In the cases wherein the parties are ready to reach to the settlement, the district and sessions
judge must dispose off the proceeding of the case and clear off the charges, both civil and
criminal charges, against the husband. The criminal charges will be lifted only if the case was
out of marital discord only and a settlement has been done between the parties.

7
(2017) 6 SCC 792
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CONCLUSION

It is very evident, by reading the case notes mentioned in the analysis, that the inclusion of
section 498A of IPC has also been a menace to the society. Clearly, the inclusions’ profits
outweigh its’ shortcomings. The inclusion had been made to provide women in the society as
a tool for their protection but after a series of misuse of the power provided under 498A, it is
being argued that such a power must be used judiciously as, a law must be fair to all and
498A due to some of its shortcomings was a matter of concern as it was being misused in the
society. The provisions under 498A were being used as weapons to harass the in-laws of the
complainants. “It is required that the loopholes in the judicial scheme by virtue of 498A be
addressed properly and provisions are to be made which does justice to women without
grossly violating the rights of the husband” 8. The need for strict measures for filing a false
report any such other acts is required in today’s time as it will eliminate the chances of a
person being deprived of his basic right of justice.

SUGGESSTION

There have been various methods suggested for making the provisions under 498A be just
and fair for the parties and it has made progress in that area too. Mentioned below are the
generic solutions to such a problem which can be deduced while working on the project.

1. Instead of a police station there should be a counsel center established in all the
district which oversees civil complaints. The complaints against the husband can be
filtered here and cases which are just a product of marital discord can be weeded out.
The cases which requires the authorities’ attention shall be passed along. This method
will unburden the judiciary but the processing of cases must be at a good place else
the justice to a victim will be delayed.
2. Cases with such delicate nature and strict provision must be tried speedily. Speedy
trial will be helpful to a falsely accused person.
3. Speedy trial of the cases is necessary as the offence under 498A is non-bailable in
8
Use and Misuse of Section 498A. http:// www.legalserviceindia.com/ misuse-of-section-498a.html
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nature and the a falsely accused person suffers inadvertently.

REFERENCES

Cases referred:
Kaliyaperumal vs State of Tamil Nadu
Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar,
Manju Ram Kalita vs State of Assam,
Bibi Parvana Khatoon vs State of Bihar’
Rajesh Kumar and Ors. vs State of Uttar Pradesh

Statutes:
Indian Penal Code Section 498A, Act No. 45, Acts of Parliament, 1860. (India) amended by
Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act, 1983(46 of 1983).

Website:
www.legalserviceindia.com
Legalserviceindia.com. 2020. Use And Misuse Of Section 498A. [online] Available at:
<http:// www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-652-use-and-misuse-of-section-498a.html>