How to Benefit from Recent Supreme Court Judgment on 498A

There is one line from a Hindi Song that reverberates in my mind each time I see a judgment in which either any High Court or Apex Court has given some guidelines for arresting the misuse of 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023). The line is “Jitne Suljhe hai Prashn Yahan, wo Resham jaise Uljhe hai”. Now when in the past any of the Landmark Judgments were passed, whether it was a Preeti Gupta Vs State of Jharkhand [(2010) 7 SCC 667], in which the mediation between warring couple was made compulsory or Arnesh Kumar [(2014) 8 SCC273] judgment in which detailed guidelines were issued to prevent unnecessary arrests, the judgments brought further complications and chaos, the loopholes were soon found by unscrupulous people to exploit husbands and their family members. Judgments did provide relief for certain people but created layer after layer of exploitation by police, lawyers and court staff. 

So, why this judgment is any different? Would the impact be any different? The euphoria and cynicism are all the same.

The news this time also broke in the similar vain “no arrest in dowry cases till charges are verified” across different news channels, websites, Facebook, and Twitter on the fateful 27th day of July 2017. BBC announced, “India top court orders change in anti-dowry law to stop the misuse,” while national newspapers like The Hindu went a little deeper “Panels to sift genuine dowry cases”, even business newspapers like Business Standard mentioned, “No arrest of innocents, proof of cruelty must in dowry cases”. It has to be borne in mind that such or similar headlines were rife when earlier judgments came. I distinctly remember when Justice Gambhir gave guidelines in Chander Bhan’s [(2008) 151 DLT 691] case; all feminists raised such a protest that it lasted many days in the newspapers. And don’t forget Feminists tried to get Arnesh Kumar’s judgment overturned by way of the review petition.

And this time, it is no different; online news portals like the Indian site HuffingtonPost went on to say, “The SC Order On-Sec 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) Addresses The Demands Of ‘Men’s Rights’ Activists”, which of-course burnt holes in the heart of Feminists who decried that “It would not be wrong to conclude then that Supreme Court is caving into pressures from ‘men’s rights’ groups in India who have been feeling increasingly threatened by challenges to patriarchal practices” in www.feminisminindia.com.

Through consistent assault by courts on misuse of women-friendly laws finally made even Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi asked the National Commission for Women (NCW) to create a ‘window’ in its online complaint system where men could bring up instances of false complaints against them. The minister said, in recent months, she had been receiving a rising number of complaints from men about being falsely implicated in cases of domestic violence and dowry. I would consider this an unparalleled outcome of the Rajesh Kumar judgment.

And then comes the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) factor. There is a lot of confusion. Would the courts take action on their own, or do we have to take certain actions? I have always favoured being proactive when the action suits you or has a better chance of favouring you.

So what does this Judgement entail for a person undergoing 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) case? How will this landmark judgment change the course of my CAW cell complaint? How will this impact my family’s harassment on every date of 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023)? So let me start by raising my hand and stating that it’s a Laudable and Bold judgment by the Apex Court of India; however, the specifics on how this will change the procedure of existing 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) cases is not mentioned. But we can all use the beneficial guidelines provided in this Landmark Judgment in our cases to steer them towards a more “equitable” horizon.

All the victims of this Gender-Biased Law, undergoing various stages of CAW cell proceedings, should send out letters to the DCP/ SP of the concerned CAW cell and District Legal Services Authority seeking validity of CAW cell proceedings against them given this Supreme Court Judgment since there is no mention of CAW cell but formation of Family Welfare Committee to handle such cases by disgruntled wives. Not only victims but Men’s Rights Groups in various cities and states can write letters on their letterheads to the DCP/ SP concerned and also to the SHOs of the area that the proceedings of all cases where there is no tangible injury of the complainant or death of the victim, should be transferred to the ‘Family Welfare Committee’. You may use this template, which may be modified per the circumstances and stage of each complaint.

Victims who mutually agreed to a settlement should write this template to the District and Sessions Judge to close the criminal case since the dispute primarily relates to matrimonial discord and has been settled. This would save them the time and cost of going to the High Court to quash the case. You may use this template.

Victims staying out of India, who already have Red Corner Notice or LOC opened or fear that it may be opened anytime soon, may write to the local SHO with a Copy marked to DCP/ SP and District Legal Services Authority with this template to stop/ close the LOC along with a request to be accorded facility of Video Conferencing to defend their case better. You may use this template.

For victims whose trial is underway, write to the District Judge to club all connected matters to their matrimonial litigation together by using this format. This is the biggest benefit which can come out of this judgment, and you may use this template.

All victims should seek exemption from personal appearance/ permit appearance via video conferencing for their family members, especially if they are staying out of station using this template.

Since the time this article was published, there has been a marked change in the guidelines issued by the Apex Court in regard to the procedure to be followed in 498A IPC (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) complaints. You can view my article on The New Phase of 498A to learn the current guidelines.

You may be interested in reading Landmark 498A Judgments by clicking HERE

You may get all the templates posted here by visiting “Application Templates”