Supreme Court on Section 498(A): The Supreme Court has taken note of the misuse of the law to harass husbands and in-laws following family disputes between a husband and wife in a matrimonial relationship. It has commented that women should not misuse the law for personal revenge. A complaint of cruelty was filed against a man in Telangana by his wife under Section 498(A) of the IPC. The Telangana High Court refused to quash the case. The matter then reached the Supreme Court, where a hearing was held before a bench of Justices B.V. Nagaratna and N. Kotiswar Singh. The Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the misuse of the law.
Under Section 498(A) of the IPC, a married woman can file a complaint against her husband and in-laws for harassment. Under this law, the accused can face imprisonment for three years or more, along with a possible fine. In the Telangana case, the wife had filed a complaint of harassment after the husband applied for the annulment of their marriage. While hearing the case, the Supreme Court bench stated that criminal action could not be taken against the woman, as she mentioned only the names of some family members in her complaint without providing solid evidence. The court further stated that the intention behind Section 498(A) was to prevent the harassment of wives by their husbands and in-laws. However, in recent years, cases of family disputes have been rising across the country, and Section 498(A) has been misused by wives to vent their anger on their husbands and in-laws. As a result, the institution of marriage itself has been troubled.
The Supreme Court also reprimanded the Telangana High Court, stating that it committed a serious error by refusing to quash the case against the husband. In this case, the wife had filed a complaint against her husband and his family purely for revenge. The Supreme Court further noted that in some cases, if a case has been filed under Section 498(A) without justification, it should be withdrawn.
Atul Subhash’s Suicide Highlights the Issue of Harassment of Men:
A case has recently come to light from Bangalore, where an engineer named Atul Subhash committed suicide due to harassment by his wife. Before his death, Atul Subhash recorded an hour-long video in which he detailed how his wife and in-laws harassed him. Following his suicide, the issue of wives abusing the law against their husbands has resurfaced. Some parts of Atul Subhash’s video are going viral on social media and are being widely discussed.
