Making 498a Compoundable or Compounding the Problems ?

MARZ BADTA GAYA JYUN JYUN DAWA KI

Time and again, various High Courts and Supreme Court and Committees have advocated that 498a (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) be made bailable and compoundable. Time and again, the government has made up its mind to make it compoundable but has yet to do so. Once again, there are attempts by the government to make it compoundable, which, by any stretch of the imagination, can not be termed a wise move. First of all, what does compoundable mean? Black’s Law Dictionary gives the meaning as,

“To settle (a matter, esp, a debt) by a money payment, instead of other liability; to adjust by agreement.” Also, “To agree for consideration not to prosecute (a crime).”

That, in short, means that A person has committed a crime against B, and B has agreed against a payment/ consideration/ agreement not to prosecute A for the crime. And 498a (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023)business is based mainly on Payment/ Money/ Consideration. I used the term business because every 5th case registered is “cruelty by husband….” (which is 2nd highest), but the conviction rate is lowest across all crimes (LINK).

So essentially, the proposal from the government translates into giving a new definition to 498a, which can be construed as – Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine unless he is ready to cough up money desirable to the complainant, in which case he can be let off for the crime. This also means that people with low incomes who have no means to buy their freedom would go through the rigorous mole of trial for ages. Before dissecting, let’s go back a little in time. Ever since 498a (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) came into existence, there have been attempts to curb the misuse by courts. The Punjab and Haryana High Court gave one of the first such pronouncements within a couple of years of this law, where it decried the attempts to rope in all relatives {of the husband by the wife} in the complaint. The governments, however, have been mute spectators of the havoc created by false cases, which started as a trickle but soon broke all barrages threatening the very existence of Indian Marriage. For all sundry reasons, 498a (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) was the only weapon ever used by females. The gullible, the extortionists, the control-freaks, the manipulated, the manipulators all fired the same canon – 498a (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023).

Did the law purportedly made to curb the harassment for some valuable security (Dowry) curbed the crime? The figures of NCRB would show that it did exactly the opposite; year after year, more and more women were allegedly harassed for valuable security (Dowry). It only bucked the trend when the bails were made easy. In no other crime, such a large no. of Anticipatory Bails were applied and granted, as in 498a (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023). In no other crime, such a huge no. of quash petitions were filed. And in no other crime, such a large number of quash applications were accepted. A relief, which all courts said was reserved for the rarest of the rare cases, was dispensed freely – but not free of cost. As I said before, people experiencing poverty went through a rigorous mole of trial for ages.

Alarmed with the gross misuse of law, various High Courts advocated pre-litigation counselling. That brought the creation of Women Cells/ CAW cells across the country. These became chambers of torture for men. The same cells later became places where freedom was negotiated, sold and bought at high prices. The mediators became parties to the negotiations, and no transaction between the warring cats was complete before the monkey got its, you know what. The CAW cells became law up to themselves, deciding the fate of men and women on the scales of who could pay a higher percentage. Besides, cases kept lingering for months and some years at this stage. The so-called hapless gal was made to wait more and more for so-called justice, whereas the unlucky guy was made to die every day in anticipation of something sinister happening to him.

Having lost faith in the mechanisms of these newly created Frankenstein, the courts took it upon themselves to prolong the process further by referring every matter, be it bail, maintenance or divorce, to mediation. Delaying the process of justice. These proceedings have now become an easy medium to delay when the wind blows against the litigant. The courts are also overburdened; nonetheless, they repeatedly refer cases to mediation.

Unable to tackle the problem through pre-litigation counselling or post-litigation mediation and the ever-rising calls by the Higher Courts to the government to tackle this menace of false cases, filed solely to pressure husbands into cough up money, the government intends what would further compound the problem. If made compoundable, 498a (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) would be an exception. It would be the sole IPC section, which is non-bailable yet compoundable (Though minor thefts or cheating up to Rs 2000/- is also compoundable and non-bailable). Though negotiations and quashing happen instead of money, even today, the extortion racket still does not have the sanctity of legal plunder. The Higher Courts decry whenever a false complaint arises and raise their noise. The government has decided to further institutionalise money exchange by making the crime compoundable. If the crime is heinous and warrants remaining non-bailable, there should not be any scope for the accused to get freed by making a payment. Such a step would mean that more and more families would be destroyed, and no scope would be left for any improvement in the situation.

If the government is serious about preserving the fabric of Indian Families and also putting a break on reckless misuse of the law, it should

1. Make Section 498a (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty: Proposed Section 84 of The Bharariya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) Bailable and Compoundable.
2. Add a misuse clause to the said section.
3. Cut back on all prolonged pre-litigation stage negotiation by making time bound registration of cases compulsory.
4. Bring a mechanism by which the case can be referred to mediation/ lok-adalat only once.
5. Severe punishment for delay in trial.”

And if by making a payment, a criminal can evade punishment, a follow up question is when is the government making Rape and Murder compoundable?