Indian Domestic Violence Law with Reference to Section 498A IPC

Abstract

Domestic violence in modern India is endemic. Women victims are protected from domesticabuse under the civil law, namely, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005.Section 498A on cruelty against wives by husband and his relatives was inducted to Indian PenalCode as early as 1983. Though it is made for addressing cruelty arising from dowry related issues,its definition is wide enough to address other situations of matrimonial domestic violence as well.
The response of the society against the law has been unparalleled owing to the fact of its sporadicmisuse by women. It is alleged that women ―misuse‖ the law. Patriarchal allegations of misusehave sprung up from men‘s fear of the appropriate use of the sting in 498A. There have beendesperate demand for diluting, deleting the sting by making the law compoundable, noncognizable,and bailable. This paper discusses the predicament of women and the reasons leading
to it. The need to take precautions to stop the aberrational misuse is emphasized. The paperexamines the trueness of the allegations of women‘s misuse of the law by referring to case laws.Besides, it proposes some preventive measures. The co-ordination of civil and criminalmechanism to combat domestic violence can lead to checking the potential misuse.