THE PARADOX OF SECTION 498A IPC: PROTECTIVE SHIELD OR LEGAL WEAPON?

Ajit Kakasaheb Tapkeer; Rahi Alhat

THE PARADOX OF SECTION 498A IPC: PROTECTIVE SHIELD OR LEGAL WEAPON?

Author(s)	Mr. Ajit Kakasaheb Tapkeer, Prof. Rahi Alhat
Country	India
Abstract	Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 was introduced by the Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act, 1983 with the laudable legislative intent of protecting married women from cruelty inflicted by their husbands and in-laws. Enacted against the backdrop of an alarming rise in dowry-related deaths and domestic violence, the provision criminalised wilful conduct likely to drive a woman to suicide or cause grave injury to her life, limb or health, as well as harassment with the aim of coercing unlawful demands for property or valuable security. Four decades of implementation, however, reveal a stark paradox: a provision conceived as a protective shield has, in a significant proportion of cases, been deployed as a legal weapon in matrimonial disputes. This paper presents a comprehensive doctrinal and empirical analysis of the misuse of Section 498A IPC, drawing upon data published by the National Crime Records Bureau, landmark judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and an extensive review of scholarly literature. Empirical evidence demonstrates a persistent and troubling anomaly: charge-sheeting rates consistently exceed ninety per cent, while conviction rates hover at approximately fifteen percent the lowest among all major criminal categories. This disparity, sustained across multiple reporting years, is strongly indicative of a systemic pattern of complaints that fail to meet the standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt. Statistical data further reveals that approximately twenty-five per cent of persons arrested under the provision are women, predominantly mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, evidencing the widespread phenomenon of over-implication of entire families, including elderly and geographically distant relatives. The research critically examines landmark judicial interventions — including Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar , Rajesh Sharma v. State of U.P. , Preeti Gupta v. State of Jharkhand , and Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India that have progressively recognised and sought to constrain the misuse of the provision. The paper also analyses the Supreme Court's description of Section 498A as 'legal terrorism' and the subsequent evolution of procedural safeguards, including guidelines for arrest and the constitution of Family Welfare Committees. The paper concludes that while Section 498A remains an indispensable instrument of protection for genuine victims of domestic cruelty, the existing framework requires urgent legislative and procedural reform. The proposed reforms encompassing mandatory preliminary inquiry, introduction of bailable status for first-time offenders in the absence of grievous harm, specificity requirements in complaints, temporal restrictions on filing, and meaningful consequences for false or malicious complaints are designed to preserve the protective character of the provision while erecting robust safeguards against its abuse
Keywords	Section 498A IPC; domestic cruelty; legal terrorism; misuse of law; Arnesh Kumar guidelines; matrimonial jurisprudence; gender justice; false complaints; criminal law reform; dowry harassment
Field	Sociology > Administration / Law / Management
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-05-26

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THE PARADOX OF SECTION 498A IPC: PROTECTIVE SHIELD OR LEGAL WEAPON?

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