The Code Against Cruelty

Women’s rights lawyer flavia agnes breaks down the law and shares her insight on the use and misuse of section 498a of the indian penal code

- Asmita Bakshi

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court passed a directive to the police and magistrates to refrain from carrying out instant arrests in cases filed under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which criminalises cruelty against women in marriages. Coercive action, the bench stated, could only be carried out after verifying the claim, which is to be done by three-member family welfare committees. Women’s groups have condemned this judgment and assert the need for action in such cases, instead of making it imperative for women to return to abusive environments while the veracity of their complaints are ascertained. Women’s rights lawyer Flavia Agnes breaks down the law as it stands and shares her insight on this directive.

What was the scope of section Section 498A before the guidelines were issued? And what were the issues which needed to be addressed?

Section 498A of IPC was enacted in 1983 as a special provision to address issues of cruelty against married women by husbands and their relatives. This law came into effect after a sustained campaign by women’s groups against dowry related violence and dowry deaths in the early eighties. It has two parts—one addresses dowry related violence or threat of violence and the other deals with cruelty, which may be physical or mental. But somehow the cruelty part has not been sufficiently addressed by our courts, police, prosecutors and also the media.