The violence against women in India is on the increase and it is not aimed against any particular stratum or section of women in our society. What is of interest is the fact that in some cases there are female members of the victim's family who play an active role in this crime. A curious case was reported in the press covering Calcutta High Court's decision asking local police not to accept the FIR from a married woman taking advantage of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court heard the petition brought before by the hapless parents of a son who allegedly systematically tortured both physically and mentally his aged parents to take possession of the house at the instigation of the his wife. The son , who was unemployed, in the face of grilling was in all tears and and admitted to his wrong-doing . He surprised and shocked the court saying that he was forced into committing this heinous act on the pain of being put behind the bars by his wife using this draconian piece of law Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code.

Now let us examine the genesis, relevance and effectiveness of this legislation which is at the eye of a storm of controversies ever since it found a place in our statute book. The idea to have a stringent law to deal with the innumberable cases of victims all over the country resulting from domestic violence and dowry prompted the Criminal Law Amendment Committee to treat it as a crime against women. And it came into being in 1983 which runs as follows:”Husband and relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty:Whoever being the husband or 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.”

The Section is also followed by explanations which elaborate on “cruelty” and “harassment”. The term “cruelty” has been held to be a wilful conduct which is likely to drive a woman to suicide or which is likely to cause grave injury to life and limb or health of the woman. Similarly harassment too comes within its ambit and harassment with the purpose of forcing the woman or her relatives to give some property and harassment because the woman or her relatives are either unable to yield to the demand for more money or do not give some share of the property. What is noteworthy is that it is non-bailable and non-compoundable offence.

Although the intention of the lawmakers is doubtless noble but there is a section of women who are unfortunately putting to perverse uses the provisions of the Indian Penal Code. and the case that is covered in the first paragraph of this article just point out one of such cases. A study reveals the percentage of such cases to be less than 7 per cent and the prevalent misuse is mostly done by the educated section of the womenfolk!