Abuse of women: Supreme Court requests that the Center reassess Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

Noting that Section 498A of the IPC was verbatim reproduced in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s cruelty against a woman provisions, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Center to examine amending Sections 85 and 86 of the new law to prevent its misuse for fictitious complaints.

“Section 498A of the IPC is reproduced verbatim in the aforementioned sections 85 and 86. Judges JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra’s bench said that the sole change is that Section 86 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, now serves as the explanation for Section 498A of the IPC.

“Before both the new provisions come into force, we request that the Legislature 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,” the Bench said.

The Central Government has already announced that the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita will take effect on July 1, 2024.

The top court made these observations while considering an appeal brought by Achin Gupta against the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision on April 5, 2022, to not overturn a FIR that his wife had filed at the Urban Estate Hisar Police Station, District Hisar, Haryana, alleging that he had been subjected to cruelty and demanded dowry.

The bench declared that the FIR should be quashed because a straightforward reading of the charge sheet and the FIR showed that the woman’s accusations were fairly broad, generic, and sweeping, and they did not specifically mention any instances of criminal activity.

In order for the Government of India to present its ruling to the Honorable Ministers of Law, Justice, and Home, the Supreme Court ordered its Registry to “send one copy each of this judgment to the Union Law Secretary and Union Home Secretary.”

“Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband, 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,” reads Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The term “cruelty” is defined in Section 86 to encompass injury to a woman’s body as well as her mind.

The Bench said that a great deal of complaints were based on inflated accounts of the occurrence, which is why it had requested the Center review the anti-dowry statute fourteen years before.