CASE TITLE : Rinku Baheti Vs Sandesh Sharda
Once again expressing concerns about the misuse of domestic violence and dowry laws by disgruntled wives, the Supreme Court cautioned women not to abuse the laws which are meant for their protection.
While dissolving a marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown, the bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice NK Singh observed :
“The provisions in the criminal law are for the protection and empowerment of women but sometimes are used by certain women more for purposes that they are never meant for. In recent times, the invocation of Sections 498A, 376, 377, 506 of the IPC as a combined package in most of the complaints related to matrimonial disputes is a practice which has been condemned by this Court on several occasions.”
“In certain cases, the wife and her family tend to use a criminal complaint with all the above serious offences as a platform for negotiation and as a mechanism and a tool to get the husband and his family to comply with their demands, which are mostly monetary in nature,” the Court added. Sometimes this is done in a fit of rage, while at times, it is a “planned strategy.”
The Court added that the involvement of other parties and stakeholders worsens the situation, as they may often “devise such crafty strategies for the women to adopt such arm-twisting tactics for their ulterior motives.” In some cases, police personnel are quick to jump into action to arrest the husband and his relatives, including aged parents and bedridden grandparents. Many often, trial courts refuse bail.
The overall effect is that minor disputes snowball into “ugly prodigious battles of ego and reputation” and “washing dirty linen in public”, eventually leading to the relationship turning sour to the extent that there remains no possibility of reconciliation or cohabitation.
“The women need to be careful about the fact that these strict provisions of law in their hands are beneficial legislations for their welfare and not means to chastise, threaten, domineer or extort from their husbands,”
