The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Section 498A of Indian Penal Code (IPC), which criminalises cruelty towards woman by her husband or relative of husband, is not violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India..The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh was dealing with a petition raising concerns over the alleged misuse of legal provisions by women in matrimonial disputes, particularly Section 498A of IPC."The court finds no reason to interfere. The plea that such provision (Section 498A IPC) is violative of Article 14 of Constitution is wholly misconceived and misdirected. Article 15 explicitly empowers to enact a special law for protection of women, etc. This (misuse) needs to be examined on case-to-case basis," the Court said while rejecting the plea..The counsel representing the petitioner submitted that in many countries, any person, irrespective of gender, can seek recourse to law in cases of domestic violence but in India, only women have that right.However, the Court said,"We maintain our sovereignty. Why should we follow other others, they should follow us."The Court added that every law can be misused and the Courts will have to look into such allegations of misuse on a case to case basis. It further highlighted the salutatory intent of such provisions, like protection of women against "bad practices" in the society."There are cases of misuse of every law. Do you want us to make sweeping statements? There may be instance where the women have been victimised. There might be cases where the provision would have been misused. So it is the duty of the court to decide each case based on its peculiar facts," the Court remarked. .Pertinently, many courts including the top courts have previously flagged the misuse of domestic violence laws by women to target their husbands and in-laws.
