Delhi High Court flags increasing misuse of Section 498A by maliciously roping in husband's family

The Delhi High Court recently observed that the increasing tendency to maliciously implicate a man's relatives in marital disputes between him and his wife constitutes an utter misuse of Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)[Pooja Rasne Vs State of NCT of Delhi And Ors]..Section 498-A IPC protects married women against domestic cruelty by her husband and his family members and prescribes up to three years of imprisonment as punishment for such acts. Justice Arun Monga made pertinent observations about the misuse of this provision while quashing a criminal case filed by a woman against her sister-in-law. “No doubt, section 498-A of the IPC was introduced to protect women from dowry related harassment and cruelty by their husbands and in-laws. However, an increased tendency to implicate the husband's relatives in matrimonial disputes, without proper scrutiny, for extraneous and malicious reasons, would be its utter misuse,” the Court stated. .The Court added that the misuse of Section 498-A IPC must be checked to prevent the harassment of innocent individuals. “While Section 498A IPC is crucial for protecting women from matrimonial cruelty and dowry harassment, its misuse through broad and unsubstantiated allegations against the husband’s relatives must be checked. Only if the allegations stand the legal scrutiny and prima facie exist, that proceedings in trial should then continue. For, such an approach protects innocent individuals from facing unnecessary litigation and consequential hardships, harassment and humiliation in the matrimonial crossfire,” the Court's ruling said. .The Court further observed that misuse of Section 498A by way of baseless and concocted allegations exert additional burden on the judicial system and adversely affect the personal life of the accused person. Such false cases also discredit the law, which was originally intended to protect women.“Long-term ramifications of proceeding with patently unbelievable allegations and baseless cases causes unnecessary additional burden on judicial system, miscarriage of justice and has a detrimental impact on the personal life of the accused person. It also risks discrediting the genuine purpose of Section 498A IPC, which is, to provide protection and justice to victims of dowry harassment and matrimonial cruelty,” the Court stated.The Court went on to note that in the present case, the complainant had made broad allegations of cruelty against her husband's sister, which cannot withstand legal scrutiny.“General and omnibus allegations, which are broad and non-specific cannot and, as in the present case do not withstand legal scrutiny. Such allegations, if unchecked, can lead to the misuse of the process of law. This misuse could result in unnecessary trials that can have long-term ramifications for all parties involved,” the Court held. .The Court further opined that such frivolous, omnibus allegations could divert attention, and undermine the credibility of legitimate grievances, apart from causing the accused to suffer unwarranted legal battles, social stigma and emotional distress.“It is the duty of the court to prevent harassment of individuals have no substantial involvement in the alleged matrimonial cruelty," the Court observed. The Court proceeded to quash the criminal proceedings against the complainant's sister-in-law (petitioner). The Court clarified that the trial against the other co-accused can continue..Advocates Amrita Sarkar, Ashish Kumar Singh, Kartik Gupta and Gitesh Sinha appeared for the petitioner. Additional Public Prosecutor Digam Singh Dagar appeared for the State.Advocate Sanjeev Mahajan and Simran Rao appeared for the complainant..[Read judgment]