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While IPC 498A is gone, Cruelty under BNS Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita reincarnates the law for cruelty against married women. Since the provision remains the same, its applicability will be as it is, which means the same suffering for men and their families, being harassed at the hands of their wives. Here is a walk through what the law was, what cruelty under BNS is, and what the Apex Court suggests regarding improvement in the same. 

Section 498A - Cruelty by husband or relatives under IPC

The Indian Penal Code has long served as the ultimate criminal law for what constitutes an offence, providing punishments for specific acts and omissions. While the original Indian Penal Code of 1860 did not mention anything about cruelty against married women, the menace was dealt with by introducing a criminal amendment in 1983. The provision for Cruelty under Section 498A IPC read as - 

“498A. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.—

Whoever, being the husband or the 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.

Explanation.— For the purpose of this section, “cruelty” means—

1.  any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or

2.  harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.”

While the provision aims at preventing cruelty against married women at the hands of husband or the in-laws, statistics reveal that the same has been more misused than genuinely used for the cause. Since the laws were being revamped, there was hope that the legislature would come up with some amendments to the existing provisions, so that the misuse is duly addressed. Even the Courts have time and again called out the authorities to do something so that the provisions made for protecting married women against misuse do not end up being the weapon for punishing husband and in-laws for broken marriages.

Supreme Court’s Suggestions for Cruelty under BNS

The Apex Court has highlighted the misuse of Section 498A and called for suggestions in many cases. Recently, the Supreme Court in Achin Gupta v. State of Haryana (2024) pointed out the copy-paste provision for cruelty against married women under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra had even requested the legislature to make necessary changes to prevent the abuse of process of law. Quoting the Court, it said -  

“39. The aforesaid is nothing but verbatim reproduction of Section 498A of the IPC. The only difference is that the Explanation to Section 498A of the IPC, is now by way of a separate provision, i.e., Section 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. 

40. We request the Legislature to look into the issue as highlighted above taking into consideration the pragmatic realities and consider making necessary changes in Sections 85 and 86 respectively of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, before both the new provisions come into force.”

Cruelty under BNS

As pointed out by the Supreme Court, the provision for cruelty under BNS is identical to that of 498A under IPC. Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2024 provides punishment for husband and his relatives subjecting the wife with cruelty. On the other hand, Section 86 of the same defines cruelty for the purpose of Section 85. Given below is the legal provision for cruelty under BNS -  

“85. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty. Whoever, being the husband or the 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.

86. Cruelty defined. For the purposes of section 85, “cruelty” means— (a) any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or (b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.”

How Misuse of IPC Section 498A or Cruelty under BNS takes place?

When a person goes through both the provisions, they only talk about punishing the husband and his relatives for treating the wife with cruelty, and defines cruelty. There is a call for preventing misuse of the provision because it has been noticed in recent years that it is all cool until the matrimonial home is peaceful. Once the marriage turns bitter, regardless of who is at fault, regardless of whether husband treats the wife with cruelty or not, regardless of even whether the in-laws are staying with the couple or not, the wife involves all the relatives possible and lodges false cases under IPC/BNS, Domestic Violence Act and Dowry Prohibition Act. While the conviction rate is minimal under IPC, it shows that such provisions are only being weaponised to harass the husband and in-laws to satisfy egos.

Inference

While the provision of cruelty under BNS remains the same as that of IPC 498A, there is hope that the government will take note of the necessity to bring some changes in laws made for protecting the rights of married women, due to increasing misuse. Because punishing the husband and his family for nothing has an impact on the society at large. If this does not change, marriage will only be another weapon to extort money from husbands in the name of maintenance while they suffer through the legal battles and end up with a divorce. 

Written by: Advocate Anish Palkar