Practice Area

SECTION 498 (A) OF INDIAN PENAL CODE (IPC)

 

What Is section 498(A) of IPC?

Whoever, being the husband or a relative of the husband of a woman, submits such woman to cruelty must be punished by imprisonment for a term of up to three years and fined.

any willful conduct that is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to the woman's life, limb, or health (whether mental or physical) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with the intent of coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of her or any person related to her failure to meet such demand.

 

Is it bailable or non bailable?

It is a non bailable offence.

It is a law which is only for women.

It is considered as a non-compoundable offence.

 

What is the punishment for 498 A?

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Whoever, being the husband or a relative of the husband of a woman, submits such woman to cruelty must be punished by imprisonment for a term of up to three years and fined.

In 1983, the statute known as Section 498-A came into effect with the intention of shielding married women from being mistreated by their husbands or other members of the husband's immediate or extended family. The offender will serve a sentence of up to three years in prison and pay a fine. The term "cruelty" has been given a broad definition to include inflicting physical or mental harm to the body or health of the woman as well as engaging in acts of harassment with the purpose of coercing her or her relations to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security. Additionally, the term "cruelty" has been defined to include indulging in acts of harassment with the purpose of forcing her or her relations to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable the practice of dowry-related harassment falls under the purview of the section's latter limb. The act of putting the woman in a position where she feels she has no other option but to take her own life is another form of "cruelty."

 

State of West Bengal v. Jaiswal

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A woman committed suicide by hanging herself after being mistreated and abused by her husband, being subject to complaints about her dowry and held responsible for the death of her father-in-law because of her "evil luck" by her in-laws and being subjected to other mental torture.  In an action against the woman's husband and mother-in-law, the lower court had found insufficient evidence of systematic cruelty or physical or mental torture to sustain a conviction under 498 A of the Indian Penal Code, which provides that a relative of a woman that subjects that woman to cruelty may be imprisoned for up to three years.  The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's holding, finding that the actions of the accused husband and mother-in-law did qualify as "cruelty" because their willful conduct was of such nature as it was likely to commit the victim's suicide.

Considering this information, the learned Session Judge concluded that both accused were responsible for the crimes that were described in Section 306 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and in Section 498A read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. As a result, he issued the order of conviction and sentence that was described earlier on this page.

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Comments: -

498a is a provision in the Indian penal code that is known as legal terrorism. Most married men in India are facing false lawsuits and spending a lot of time in litigation and harassment. The fundamental soul of this section is cruelty, which is construed differently by different courts in India. For a laywoman wife, however, even domestic wear and tear of marriage life causes husband to suffer harassment, and routine quarrels in the house can land husband and his relatives in jail, which is why it is referred to as legal terrorism.

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Sometimes the woman threatens and harasses the husband into filing a 498a complaint; such threatening calls or messages must be presented as defense evidence. Nowadays, bogus cases are the most effective way to get money from an innocent husband.