Cruelty against Women - Section 498A of Indian Penal Code Guidelines for Police for making an Arrest
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Introduction
In many parts of India condition of women is still derogatory and after getting married it is yet another story. In many parts of rural areas women are subjected to cruelty in different forms and not only in rural but in urban and developed areas which are considered to have left behind all the orthodox and taboos. This cruelty is usually reported to be for insufficient dowry or for seeking more dowry of monetary benefits from the parental home of a wife. The Indian law protects the right of aggrieved women through the Indian Penal Code.
LAWs ON CRUELTY
Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code protects women who are abused by their in-laws or are abused, tortured, beaten. The offense under Section 498A IPC is a cognizable offense and is non-bailable.
This section deals with the cases where the women are subjected to cruelty by the husband or husband’s family and wherein the worst case is women is tortured to the stage where she has subjected to such mental condition where she is provoked to commit suicide Section 304 B of Indian Penal Code comes into action.
Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code states that where a woman has committed suicide within 7 years of her marriage or her cause of death is suspicious as there is reasonable suspicion some other person has caused her death the and she was subjected to cruelty or was forced to bring more dowry the court will prove such suicide as abetment by the husband or my husband along with the family of the husband.
Section 113-A of India Evidence Act talks about presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman – if the woman has committed suicide within 7 years from her marriage the court may presume that the woman subjected to cruelty and has been abetted by the husband and his family.
MISUSE OF SECTION 498A
Even though there are provisions for women from these heinous crimes, abuse of these rights by women these days has become very common. As per the NCRB report, in 2019 more than 328467 men were arrested out of which only 35202 were convicted which included allegations related to dowry and cruelty, etc. These arrests not only tarnish the image but also create a mindset amongst about that person and make it hard to live.
To deal with this scenario Hon’ble Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar v. the State of Bihar, (2014) gave guidelines to ensure that police officer does not arrest the accused without proper investigation and magistrate do not allow detention of the alleged accused casually and mechanically in cases under Section 498-A IPC. The Hon’ble court stated that there is a flood increase in matrimonial disputes and Section 498A of the Indian Penal code which was used as a safeguard for women has now become a tool to harass husband and their family members. The court also mentioned cases where the family of the husband included bedridden grandparents sister living abroad for several years and upon them allegations for cruelty were there. This shows nothing but the abuse of law. The Hon’ble court quoted the statistic as “in 2012 Statistics” published by National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs showed that around 1,97,762 arrest of persons were made all over India for an offense under Section 498-A of the IPC. A quarter of those arrested under this provision in 2012 were women i.e. 47,951 which depicts that mothers and sisters of the husbands were included in their arrest without being actual culprits it comprised 6% out of the total persons arrested under the crimes committed under the Indian Penal Code. The rate of charge sheets filed in cases under Section 498A, Indian Penal Code is as high as 93.6%, while the conviction rate is only 15%, which is lowest across all heads. As many as 3,72,706 cases are pending trial of which on current estimate, nearly 3,17,000 are likely to result in acquittal”.
Consider all this the Court gave certain directions which have to go be kept forth before making any arrest under section 498A:
(a) Police officers shall not automatically arrest the accused when a case under 498-A IPC is registered. The police officer shall first be satisfied with the necessity of arrest under parameters of Section 41 Criminal Procedure Code which mandate arrest only in case if the officer is satisfied that apprehension that person can cause the evidence of the offense to disappear or tampering with such evidence in any manner; or to prevent such person from making any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or the police officer
(b) Police officers shall fill the checklist as mentioned under sub-clauses under Section 41(1)(b)(ii) CrPC) and furnish the reasons for arrest along with material grounds for the arrest.
(c) An accused who is arrested without any warrant by the police has the constitutional right under Article 22(2) of the Constitution of India and Section 57, Criminal Penal Code to be produced before the Magistrate without unreasonable delay and in any case no beyond 24 hours excluding the time necessary for the journey. During the course of the investigation, an accused cannot be kept in arrest beyond a period of 24 hours but only if it authorized by the Magistrate in the exercise of power under Section 167 Cr. P.C arrest can go beyond 24 hours.
(d) The Magistrate shall authorize arrest only after recording its satisfaction on the report furnished by the police officers.
(e) Where in case police officers fail to comply with the directions, they will be liable for departmental action as well as punishment for contempt of Court.
(f) Failure of the Judicial Magistrate to comply with the directions will render him liable for departmental action by the appropriate High Court.
(g) Only the designated Investigating Officer of the area can investigate complaints under Section 498-A and other connected offenses.
(h) If the parties agree to a settlement they are welcomed to approach the High Court under Section 482 seeking quashing of proceedings.
(i) Impounding of passports or issuance of Red Corner Notice should not be a routine where the persons ordinarily residing out of India.
CONCLUSION
Not only laws but society should be responsible to protect women from any mental or physical cruelty, but, the concept of equity should be well kept in mind. Not only women but now men are also subjected to mental cruelty. Hon’ble Supreme court tried to resolve this issue by the landmark judgment.