The Supreme Court of India, in a landmark judgement on April 30, 2019, ruled that if a woman is undergoing cruelty and dowry harassment by her husband or in-laws, then any relative of hers can file a dowry harassment complaint against them.
The judgement was pronounced by a bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice K.M. Joseph. The bench stated that there is no such provision in Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with matrimonial cruelty against women, which says that complaint should be filed only by the woman who is subjected to cruelty by husband or his relative. As such, any relative can make compliant on her behalf in this regard and it will be deemed to be maintainable.
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Section 498A of IPC The section 498A of the Indian Penal Code was passed by the Indian Parliament in 1983 in order to protect married women from matrimonial cruelty. It is a criminal law that states: “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 punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.”The section is invoked in cases when a husband or in-laws inflict cruelty on a woman or demand dowry.
Key Highlights of the Judgement
Following are the key highlights of the judgement:
* The bench observed that there is no provision under Section 498A indicating that a woman being subjected to dowry harassment has to herself file a complaint against the perpetrators of the crime.
* Hence, the bench decided that it will take into consideration the complaint filed by relatives of the victim and would not consider such complaints as not maintainable on this ground.
Significance As the order allows any relative to lodge a complaint on behalf of the victim, the landmark judgement could help women victims who are unable to themselves lodge a complaint against their husband and in-laws.
Background The Court gave this ruling in Rashmi Chopra vs State of UP case while considering the matter that since the complaint in the case was not made by the woman, but her father, it is not maintainable. The court was of the view that the complaint filed by the father cannot be said to be not maintainable on this ground.
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