Evolution and Current Trends 498A Misuse
In 1983, the IPC section of 498A was rightly inserted to safeguard married women from atrocities at the hands of husbands and his relatives. However it was broad and generic and laid down immense power at the hands of the investigation officer. On several occasions the Supreme Court has opined that the investigation officer has been vested with more than required power to not only arrest husbands but also his relatives. There are several instances where based on mere statements of the wife, minor children and elderly parents have been arrested by the police station.
Supreme Court Opinion on 498A, a legal terrorism
The Supreme Court since the 1990s has highlighted and expressed concerns over misuse of 498A and provided several guidelines to investigation officers, However honourable court is against dilution of 498A provisions as the intention is to maintain the balance of fair opportunity of justice for both accused and victim as dowry related harassment is still a reality. Unfortunately few have been using it to their advantage by false or exaggerated Here are few milestone cases related to guidelines from Supreme Court to prevent abuse of 498A
Arnesh Kumar vs. State of Bihar (2014): This landmark judgement highlighted the misuse of Section 498A and laid down guidelines for the police to follow before arresting the accused under this section. The Court emphasised the need to follow due process and to avoid unnecessary arrests, aiming to curb the misuse of the law.
Rajesh Sharma & Ors. vs. State of U.P. & Anr. (2017): In this case, the Supreme Court recognized the growing misuse of Section 498A and introduced several safeguards to prevent its abuse. The Court recommended the establishment of Family Welfare Committees to scrutinise complaints before any action is taken, though this was later modified by the Court.
Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar & Another vs. Union of India, Ministry of Law and Justice and Others (2018): This judgement revisited the guidelines laid down in the Rajesh Sharma case and diluted some of the safeguards, asserting that they should not hamper the genuine victims of cruelty. The Court maintained the need for a balanced approach to protect both the rights of the accused and the victims.
Apart from Guidelines, the Supreme Court also recommendedParliament to bring about changes in IPC Section 498A to prevent misuse of law. SThe honourable court has also commented that such misuse of law LEGAL TERRORISM
Current Situation and trends of 498A
As per the latest National Crime Records Bureau report 2024 , below is the pan India analysis of 498A related FIRs and Judgements till 2022.
About 8,928 Police FIRs were registered in 2021 related to Cruelty by Husbands or his Relatives (498A). Along with pending cases, a total of 12,567 cases were for Police Investigation. Only about 397 cases ended as false reports or mistakes of facts. This is like around 3% of total FIRs. Around 7218 FIRs were charge sheeted which is about 57% of total . About 4306 cases were taken forward to next year. So , nearly 88% of FIRs which are disposed of by police stations were charge sheeted.
In the courts the total cases pending in 2021 were 45,088 (37,870 cases from previous year). Out of this a total of 991 cases were disposed of without trial mainly for reason of compromise (667), plea bargaining (167) and Cases Quashed (138).
About 1517 trials were completed with 279 cases convicted, This is about 18.4% conviction rate. However if we consider the conviction rate of total 45088 cases pending in courts it's about 0.062%.
Out of 7218 cases sent to trial in 2021, only 18 of those were convicted
POLICE CHARGE SHEET RATE - 88.4%
POLICE INVESTIGATION PENDENCY RATE - 34%
COURT CONVICTION RATE - 18.4%
COURT PENDENCY RATE - 94.4%
" OUT OF 45,088 TRIAL CASES AT COURT, 667 WERE COMPROMISED AND 138 WERE QUASHED BY HIGH COURT"
OVERALL 57% cases were charge sheeted by police and only 0.6% were convicted at courts in 2022. ( NCRB Report of 2024)
Talk to us to get out of menace. Book your Free call here