SC raises alarm over growing misuse of Section 498A by wives against husbands and their families

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Supreme Court of India has raised concerns about the increasing misuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which criminalizes cruelty by husbands and their families against married women. The Court highlighted that the provision, originally intended to protect women from abuse within marriages, is increasingly being used to settle personal vendettas. In a case involving a husband and his parents, the Court quashed the domestic cruelty charges filed by the wife, noting that such cases were often used as a weapon during marital disputes.

The bench, comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh, emphasized that Section 498A, which was introduced to curb cruelty against women, was being exploited in many instances to target husbands and their families over personal grudges. They pointed out that vague and generalized allegations, if not properly scrutinized, can lead to the misuse of legal processes, with wives and their families sometimes using the provision to force compliance with unreasonable demands.

This particular case arose from a criminal appeal filed by the husband and his family, who sought to have the Telangana High Court's decision, which had refused to quash the charges, overturned. The wife had filed the complaint after her husband petitioned for divorce. While the Court clarified that its observations were not meant to silence genuine victims of cruelty, it stressed that provisions like Section 498A should not be misused to settle personal scores, as seen in this case. The bench reiterated that the law was specifically designed to protect women from cruelty, particularly in cases involving dowry demands, but in some situations, it is being misused, undermining the original intent of the provision.