Sec 498-A of IPC – Cruelty after Marriage

[leaglesamiksha]

Section 498 –A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 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.”
Ques: What is the aftermath/ implications of a case filed under Sec 498-A of the IPC for the victim and the offender?

Topic

[Intern]

Section 498 –A of Indian Penal code 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.”

This is a profoundly serious offence. Under this section “cruelty” can imply both mental and physical torture to the wife from the husband or any relative of the husband.

So, if a husband or a relative to a husband has subjected the wife towards cruelty of any form shall be punishable under this section.

The nature of this offence under section 498 – A is considered as a cognizable offence. The crime is also non- bailable, non-compoundable and can be tried by the magistrate of the first class. This offence is considered “compoundable” only in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

So, any person who has committed a crime under this offence shall be liable for imprisonment for a term which may extend to a period of three years and shall also be liable to pay a fine.

This section is not just considered as a marital remedy, but it most certainly carries a wider point of view.

In the case of B. S. Joshi v. State of Haryana, it was held that the husband or relatives of the husband can be punished under this section if they coerce the wife to satisfy unlawful demands of dowry.

The aim behind this section was to prevent torture of the wife from the husband or the family of the husband.

So in conclusion we can understand the implication of this secton in this society.

[Intern]

Section 498A states cruelty to a married woman husband or relative of a husband subjecting her to cruelty is liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term upto 3 years and fine. If the husband or any relative of husband ill- treats the woman or are causing mental, physical or psychological agony or harassment to thw woman then she can seek divorce from her husband and this section is applicable in that case.
This section further states that “any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health of the woman or harassment of woman, whether such harassment is of the view of coercing her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of her failure to meet such demand. Dowry Death in which a woman within seven years of her marriage commits suicide because of cruelty by her husband or relatives of the husband in respect of bringing insufficient amount of dowry articles the husband and her relatives who force that woman to commit suicide are dealt with in this section of Dowry Death.
Section 498A has been there for the protection of women but some of them misuse this and put false allegations on their husband and their relatives in order to seek divorce or to cause trouble to him and his family members.
A complaint under section 498A cannot be filed after divorce s this section is only applicable to married woman who is subjected to cruelty by her husband or his relatives and its scope only there till the marriage is there once divorce takes place then section 498A cannot be attracted.

[Intern]

Section 498A is defined in Chapter XXA of I.P.C as-
“Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (physical or mental) shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to a
fine.”
Section 498A is cognizable (in which a police officer may arrest the accused without an arrest
warrant) and it is a non-bailable offence.
Section 498A was inserted with the idea of protecting women against cruelty, harassment, and other
violence.
A complaint can be filed –
a.by any person related to her by blood, marriage or adoption,
b. or if there is no such relative,then by any public servant as may be notified by the State
Government in this behalf.
An offence under section 498A of IPC is a continuing offence which means every time when the
woman was subjected to cruelty, she will have a new starting point of limitation.
As per section 468 CrPC, Complaints under the Section 498A can be filed within 3 years of the
incident.
But there also cases when offenders fall prey to false allegations.
The Hon’ble Delhi HC in 2008 introduced some steps to be followed to avoid the misuse of the
Section 498A by the prosecution. These are-
1. Cases under Section 498A IPC should not be registered without prior approval of DCP.
2.FIR should be registered by the police only after scrutinizing the alleged incident.
3.The arrest of the offender should be made only after thorough investigation has been done.
As Justice always prevails over injustice, men have a remedy to be sought in law against the false
accusations. Under S. 500 of IPC, husband can file a defamation case against his wife. He can also
file an FIR against his wife for false allegations. Under S. 9 of CPC, husband can file an application for
the recovery of damages, which he and his family have undergone for the false accusations of
cruelty.
If the competent authority finds that the law has been misused, the culprit is subjected to
imprisonment of 6 months or fine or both under Section 182 of IPC.

[leaglesamiksha]

Women have always subject to cruelty by male society, Section 498A was introduced in the year 1983 to protect married women from subjected to cruelty by the husband and his relatives. Punishment for this Cruelty extending to 3 years of imprisonment and fine has been prescribed.
The term “Cruelty” includes inflicting physical and mental harm to the body or health of the women. It is a non-bailable offence and if the information related to the commission of the offence is given to the officer then it will be considered as a cognizable offence.
Use of section 498A, IPC
~ 9 out of 10 cases are always related to dowry, so to protect women from the cruelty 498A plays a vital role.
~Women are threatened, tortured and abused for something or the other ,these also led women to commit suicide, Section 498A allows women to approach the court of law and help preventing their mental and physical abuse.

In Shobha Rani v Medhukar Reddy, if the act done is of such a nature that the women tried to commit suicide which may prove fatal.

Misuse of section 498A,IPC
~Many women abuses their power, they use it as a weapon than to shield themselves.
In Arnesh kumar v. State of Bihar,
It was stated that bedridden grandmothers and grandfathers and relatives living abroad were arrested,so women have started using it as a weapon to get their husband arrested.There are many false cases registered in the court which increases pendency of the court.
Recovery in case of false accusation- • husband can file a defamation case under section 500 of ipc. • under section 9 , he can claim damages

We can conclude by saying that, section 498A is crucial for women’s safety from cruelty on the other hand it can be misused to frame men with false charges. So it all depends upon the deployment to decide whether section 498A is a bane or boon.

[leaglesamiksha]

Married Women have been subjected to cruelty by the husband and relatives from the past. The number of sufferings and hardships women have gone through irrespective of the fact that which community they belong to cannot be over looked. Section 498-A was introduced in the year 1983 to protect married women from being subjected to cruelty by the husband or his relatives.
The term cruelty has been defined in the code to include inflicting harm be it physical or mental to the body or health of the woman and forcing her and harassing her to meet unlawful dowry demands for any property or valuable security. An attempt to drive woman to commit suicide by creating such situations also amounts to the ingredients of cruelty.
If a person is convicted under section 498-A of IPC, it will land them in jail for a period of three years along with the liability of paying fine.
It was evident from the past two decades that the laws that were made to protect the women were being vigorously misused by them. In order to curb such issues courts have given there say in certain judgements and the recent amendments made in the section were also made with a view to resolve these issues of misuse of section 498A.
In the case of Preeti Gupta Vs. State of Jharkhand, the court quoted that, “It is a matter of common knowledge that exaggerated versions of the incidents are reflected in a large number of complaints”. The Supreme Court directed the Registry to send a copy of judgment to the Law Commission and Union Law Secretary to take appropriate steps in the concerned matter.

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