OUR EXPERTISE

Before 1983, the offence of cruelty and harassment inflicted on a married woman were dealt with by general provisions of the Indian Penal Code as there was no specific provision in the Indian Penal Code to deal with such offences. Therefore in the year 1983, the criminal law amendment was brought by the Govt. of India, and according to that, Section 498-A was brought into the statute book in the year 1983. The objects and reasons for introducing Section 498-A IPC can be gathered from the Statement of Objects and Reasons of Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act of 1983 which reads as under:- "The increasing number of Dowry Deaths is a matter of serious concern. The extent of evil has been commented upon by the Joint Committee of the Houses constituted to examine the working of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. Cases of cruelty by the husband and the relatives of the husband which culminate in suicide by, or murder of the hapless woman concerned, constitute only a small fraction of the cases involving such cruelty. It is, therefore proposed to amend the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Indian Evidence Act suitably to deal effectively not only with cases of Dowry Death but also cruelty to a married woman by their in-laws. The following are the changes that are proposed to be made:- (i) The Indian Penal Code is proposed to be amended to make cruelty to a woman by her husband or any relative of her husband punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and also with fine. Willful conduct of such a nature by the husband or any other relative of the husband as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or cause grave physical or mental injury to her, and harassment of a woman by her husband or by any relative of her husband to coerce her or any of her relatives to meet any unlawful demand for the property would be punishable as cruelty, the offence will cognizable if information relating to the commission of the offence is given to the officer in charge of a Police Station by the victim of the offence or a relative of the victim of the offence or, in the absence of any such relative, by any public servant authorized in this behalf by the State Government. It is also being provided that no court shall take cognizance of the offence except upon a Police Report or complaint made by the victim of the offence or by her father, mother, brother, sister or by her father's or mother's brother or sister or with the leave of the court by any other person related to her by blood, marriage or adoption (vide Clauses 2, 5 and 6 of the Bill.) (ii) Provision is being made for an inquest by Executive Magistrates and for postmortem in all cases where a woman has, within seven years of her marriage, committed suicide or died in circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has committed an offence. A post-mortem is also being provided for in all cases where a married woman has died within seven years of her marriage and a relative of such woman has requested on this behalf (vide Clauses 3 and 4 of the Bill) (iii)The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 is being amended to provide that where a woman has committed suicide within a period of seven years from the date of her marriage and it is shown that her husband or any relative of her husband and subjected her to cruelty, the court may presume that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative of her husband (vide Clause 7 of the Bill).

The objective of 498A IPC:-

As mentioned above a new section i.e 498 A was inserted in the Indian Penal code under chapter XX-A with an object to curb the menace of “Cruelty against a married woman” which often led to dowry death. It has been presumed a very important amendment in the Indian Panel Code to safeguard the married woman from any type of physical brutality or harassment for dowry demand. The foremost objective behind this amendment was to protect married women from any type of harassment by her husband or relatives of the husband for want of dowry or any article etc. Offence under 498A IPC is cognizable, non-compoundable, and non-bailable meaning thereby the Police is duty-bound to register an FIR against the persons involved in the offence on receiving of the complaint from an aggrieved woman or her family members. Since offence of 498a IPC is cognizable and is non-bailable, the police is empowered to arrest the person involved in the case, and the only remedy left to the person involved to approach the competent court for anticipatory bail under Section 438 Cr. P.C.

Definition of section 498A of Indian Penal Code:-

“498-A. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.—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. Explanation.—For this section, “cruelty” means— (a) any willful 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 (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or (b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.”