Abuse of dowry law should stop, now even the Supreme Court has said it

New Delhi : There is tremendous anger on social media over the suicide of Atul Subhash, a techie from Bengaluru. Subhash, fed up with the alleged harassment of his/her wife, committed suicide. his/her wife had filed 9 cases against him/her including dowry harassment and murder. Declaring himself innocent, Subhash had described his/her wife’s atrocities in a 24-page suicide note and an 80-minute recorded video message. The note written by him/her and the clip of the video have been viral on social media since Tuesday. Incidentally, on Tuesday itself, the Supreme Court expressed concern over the law related to dowry harassment and said that the courts should be careful while hearing such cases. The Supreme Court said that in the cases of dowry harassment, the courts should be careful to prevent misuse of the law. Needed In view of the husband’s tendency to implicate his/her relatives, innocent family members should be protected from unnecessary trouble.

Justice B. V. Nagarathna and Justice N. The bench comprising Justice Kotishwar Singh said that the mention of the names of the family members should be barred at the outset without specific allegations indicating active involvement of the family members in the criminal case arising out of matrimonial dispute.

Opinion: Sorry Atul Subhash! Neither will you raise your voice in Parliament nor will any court take cognizance; The man you were!
The bench said, ‘It is a well-known fact from judicial experience that in case of marital dispute, there is often a tendency to implicate all the family members of the husband. “General and broad allegations without solid evidence or specific allegations cannot form the basis of criminal prosecution.”

Therefore, the top court said that in such cases the courts should exercise caution to prevent misuse of legal provisions and legal process and to save innocent family members from unnecessary trouble.

The court made this observation while quashing the order of the Telangana High Court which had refused to quash a dowry harassment case filed by a woman against her husband, her parents and other family members.

The apex court said the purpose of inclusion of Section 498A in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) through amendment is to prevent cruelty to a woman by her husband and his/her family members, so as to ensure prompt intervention by the State. It is noteworthy that now the Indian Penal Code has been replaced by the Indian Justice Code and now the sections related to crimes have changed in it. However, in old cases the trial will still take place under IPC.

The bench said, ‘However, in recent years there has been a significant increase in matrimonial disputes across the country, as well as increasing discord and tension within the institution of marriage, as a result of which Section 498A of the IPC (Injury by husband or his/her relatives against wife) There is a growing tendency to misuse such provisions as ‘cruelty’ to promote personal vendetta by the wife against the husband and his/her family.’

The Court said that vague and general allegations, if not investigated during matrimonial disputes, would lead to abuse of legal processes and lead to pressure tactics by the wife and her family.

It also said, ‘We are not for a moment suggesting that any woman facing cruelty under Section 498A of the IPC should remain silent and restrain herself from making a complaint or initiating any criminal proceedings.’

The bench said that (all it has to say is) that such cases should not be promoted.

The Court said that the purpose of inclusion of Section 498A is primarily to protect women who are subjected to cruelty in the in-laws’ house due to illegal demand of any property or valuable securities as dowry.

“However, sometimes it is misused, as happened in the present case,” the bench said.

The top court, while quashing the FIR, said that the complaint was filed by the wife against the husband and his/her family members out of personal vendetta and enmity.