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New Delhi, Dec 11: A Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice N Kotishwar Singh in the Supreme Court expressed concern over the rampant misuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which penalizes cruelty by husbands and their relatives against married women.
Bench further noted that sometimes the provision, originally intended to protect women from domestic violence and harassment, is increasingly being exploited by some women to force her husband and his family to comply with her unreasonable demands & added that sometimes, recourse is taken to invoke Section 498A of the IPC against the husband and his family in order to seek compliance with the unreasonable demands of a wife.
The Court said that there is a growing trend to use the provision as a tool by women for unleashing personal vendetta against the husband and his family. "
Making vague and generalised allegations during matrimonial conflicts, if not scrutinized, will lead to the misuse of legal processes and an encouragement for use of arm twisting tactics by a wife and/or her family," the judgment said.
The Court made the observations while quashing cases of cruelty and dowry lodged by the wife against her husband and in-laws.
The Court was hearing an appeal preferred by the husband and his family members against the Telangana High Court's refusal to quash the case. The wife had filed the said cases against her husband and in-laws after husband moved a plea seeking dissolution of the marriage.
After considering the arguments, the Supreme Court said that the cases filed by wife was to settle personal scores and grudges and the wife was misusing the provisions meant originally to protect her.
We are not, for a moment, stating that any woman who has suffered cruelty in terms of what has been contemplated under Section 498A of the IPC should remain silent and forbear herself from making a complaint or initiating any criminal proceeding.
That is not the intention of our aforesaid observations but we should not encourage a case like as in the present one, where as a counterblast to the petition for dissolution of marriage sought by the first appellant-husband of the second respondent herein, a complaint under Section 498A of the IPC is lodged by the latter," the Court observed while quashing the case.
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