This article has been Written by ELAVARASI. P from THE TAMIL NADU Dr. AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY.”

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION:

Indian Marriages are considered to be one of the sacred rituals made for the Union of persons and their families. Many literatures, texts, and scripts says about Marriage. It says that ‘Marriage is a union of male and female for the procreation of children’. Some authors also says that ‘ a man without a marriage is incomplete and is unhappy’. Though the people in the society encourages everyone to get married according to their customs , but how many knows about the evils behind it? Some People wanted to get married and some are forced to get married because of societal pressures and it’s norms. Some people think that marriage is security to their female children and it helps them to have a healthy and happy life. But How many of them realizes that Marriages also leads to worse life?. It is a known fact in Indian society but people refuses to accept those cruelty done by their husband and husband’s relatives for various factors . It is right to say that where there is love there is fight. It maybe physical or emotional. Fighting is one of a way to express their love but only in a limit , if that limit exceeds and it is prolonged then it amounts to cruelty. This article is about unveiling the silent sufferings of a married women who frequently faces mental cruelty from her husband or his relatives.

UNDERSTANDING CRUELTY IN MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS :

Have you ever heared the word “Cruelty“? Cruelty can be defined as the deliberate behaviour of a person that causes pain or harm to other person. So, What is the range of that pain or harm to be considered as cruelty?.

In a judgment of Supreme Court case presided by justices Sanjiv Khanna and M.M. Sundresh noted that the boundaries of cruelty shifts from person to person and case to case. It shall depend on the persons upbringing, sensitivity level, their behaviour, tolerance, etc., They stated that cruelty has no uniform standards. Cruelty to a woman in marital relationship can be done by both husband and husbands relatives. It shall be either physical or mental, intentional or unintentional.

FORMS OF CRUELTY :

The cruelty faced by the married woman in her marital life can be divided into two broad categories namely Physical and Mental cruelty. As we know physical cruelty refers to pain or harm or any other activities that causes physical injuries to the body of the women. Whereas mental cruelty Refers to the emotional or psychological distress caused by one party to another. Mental cruelty can be done in various forms. It shall takes place in the form of Verbal abuses, frequent humiliation, harassing the wife, threatening her, not caring for the welfare of the wife and so on.

As the concept of mental cruelty is subjective, it changes from case to case. Section 13 of Hindu Marriage Act 1955, says about cruelty as a ground for divorce. It also talks about mental cruelty. In case of Maya Devi v. Jagdish Prasad, AIR 2007 SC 1426, it is said that if the conduct of a spouse causes apprehension in the mind of other spouses that is affects the mental welfare then it amounts to mental cruelty. The below following acts shall be considered as mental cruelty;

Verbal Abuse.
Emotional Abuse
Humiliating the wife.
Threatening and menacing.
Giving insecure and discarded feel.
Harassing the wife
Being a stalker for unreasonable doubts.
Regular criticisms and mockery.
Isolating the wife from the society.
Having a unreasonable control over wife.
Denial of basic needs and rights.

ESSENTIALS OF CRUELTY :

As per section 498A of the Indian Penal Code , there are 3 essential factor that are needed to be constituted so as to file a case on cruelty under section 498A of IPC. they are ;

The woman who has been subjected to cruelty must be a married woman, so that she can file a petition under this section
There must be a willful conduct by the woman’s husband or husband’s relatives.
There must be a injury. The injury thus caused shall be mental or physical.

Cruelty is a necessary element for both section 304B and 498A of IPC. The definition of cruelty said in 498A shall applies to section 304B.

SIGNS OF ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS:

The term abusive relationship is used when one person exerts power or control over other person in a marital relationship that too in a negative way. It is very heartbreaking to know that in India the wife in many families doesn’t know that they are in an abusive relationship. Every relationship differs from one another. Sometimes the cruelty done by the husband or husband’s relatives are considered to be normal by the society, that makes the wife to believe that the act done by them is normal and not abusive. It is very essential to know whether the marital relationship that a wife engages is abusive or not. There are some factors that determines whether the marital relationship that a wife engages in is abusive or not. They are;

Monitoring:

It is common for a husband to check on her wife’s mobile or check to whom she is communicating with. But what if this monitoring is so much frequent and the husband secretly monitors her wife talks, chats and other social media interactions. It is highly possible in a abusive relationship that husband behaves like this. He would also stalks his own wife and can even attach tracking devices without wife’s knowing. It is highly possible that he would use those informations to control the wife later.

Manipulation:

Manipulation in a marital relationship includes; Gaslighting ( it is a form of emotional abuse where a man try to manipulate the thoughts of women and try to assume that the women’s thoughts are wrong.) , showing aggressive behavior and trys to threaten the wife to complete the matters, blames on the wife for which she is not responsible.

Threatening:

Using force on wife to do things that she doesn’t want to do or Coercing her to do something against her own will is also a sign of abusive relationship. The prolonged effect of this would cause distress in marital life and leads to mental cruelty .

There are many other signs to confirm abusive relationship like character assasination, Humiliation, Negating, critising and so on .

LEGAL FRAMEWORKS :

In India there is a increase rate of cruelty of married woman by her husband and husband’s relatives. There are many cases that were filed about bride burning, dowry deaths and usage of violence on the wife resulting in her death or grievous injuries. At this point the general (IPC) Indian Penal Code is insufficient. Thus, to give justice to those women who are exposed to cruelty by her husband or husband’s relatives, the parliament passed criminal law( Second Amendment) Act in 1983, which added section 498A to the Indian Penal Code.

The parliament also decided a 3 layer of legislation that are necessary to address this issue.

It is to define the offence of cruelty to the women by her husband or the relatives of her husband,
To implement the policies to investigate the deaths of the women,
To amend the Indian Evidence Act 1872 , so as to provide speedy justice to the women.

The introduction of section 498A provision to the Indian Penal Code is to prevent husband from torturing his wife for dowry and to punish those people who abuses women.
Section 498A – Husband or relatives of husband of a women subjecting her to cruelty shall be punished. They are punished with the imprisonment that extends up to 3 years and they are also liable to pay fine.
This section defines cruelty as a wilful means or a wilful conduct by the husband or husband’s relatives to drive a woman to commit suicide or any other grave injuries that harms the women physically or mentally constitutes cruelty.

Nature of offence:

The offence committed under section 498 A of Indian Penal Code is cognizable it means the police shall arrest the person without any warrant.
It is a non-bailable offence. If a complaint is lodged under this section then the magistrate shall refuse to bail the accused person and he could send him to court or to the police custody.
It is a non compoundable offence. The petitioner can’t withdraw the case and settle outside the court. Non compoundable cases include rape and section 498A charges.
Section 304B of Indian Penal code was also amended and after amendment Dowry Death was included in it. The main reason for the women to die or commit suicide is because of dowry demand. The husband or relatives of husband would constantly demand dowry from the women’s family which shall lead to physical and mental cruelty and in worst case it leads to death.
Section 113A of Indian Evidence Act also says about cruelty. This provision says that if a wife commits suicide not long before subjected to cruelty by husband or husband’s relatives, then the court shall presume with all the regarding circumstances of the case and shall conclude that the suicide of the wife was abetted by those persons and they shall be responsible for her death.
Section 174 of criminal procedure code says that if a woman commits a suicide or died within 7 years of marriage then the court shall investigate the matter of whether the woman was subjected to any cruelty or any dowry demand and investigate the reason for the death.

LANDMARK CASES:

Arnesh Kumar v state of Bihar, 2014

In this case the Supreme Court gave guidelines to the police that they shall arrest anyone when offence comes under section 498 A of Indian Penal Code.

Rajesh Sharma v state of UP, 2017

In this case the supreme Court gave certain guidance that section 498A of IPC is misused.

In 2003, a committee named Malimath committee reported that section 498A is being widely misused.

Sushi Kumar Sharma v Union of India, 2005

In this case the supreme Court States that Abuse of section 498A is Legal Terrorism.

Shobha Rani v Madhukar Reddi, 1988

The Court held that the evidence is necessary to prove the cruelty or harassment done by husband or relatives of husband. They said that it is a requirement of the offence of cruelty defined under section 498A of IPC.

Jagdish Chander v. State,1988

It was held that the drinking habits of the husband and his coming late at midnight haven’t been held to amount to cruelty.

Pawan Kumar v. State of Haryana , 1998

The Supreme Court held that Cruelty or harassment under Section 498-A need not be physical , it also include mental cruelty. mental torture in a grave case that would be sufficient for conviction.

BREAK THE SILENCE:

The woman who were subjected to cruelty must come out of their cover and approach judicial courts to get remedies.
They need to realise that the cruelty done by their husband and relatives of husband are not common and normal. They must have clear conscience on what constitute cruelty.
They can also contact 181 helpline number for women who are subjected to domestic violence and cruelty.
Changing the stereotypes in the society helps women to overcome many difficulties and achieve more.
By providing more legal aids and legal knowledge, women can empower in the society as well as family.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES :

Cruelty to married women is a international concept. The World Health Organization (WHO) gave a approximate report that about 1/3 of the women in the world are subjected to domestic violence and cruelty. They experience physical, mental and sexual harm.
In global perspective, India is one of the countries which lack women security. As a developing country it’s laws are also developing to protect women and their rights.
Domestic violence in USA is a form of violence within a domestic relationship. As a federal law in USA , it has the Family Violence Prevention and Service Act (FVPSA) , which provides federal funding to help the victims of domestic violence and it also provide shelter for the children. It offers violence prevention from programs which helps to improve their community.
In UK There are no laws that are specifically against the domestic abuse but they make the domestic abuse as illegal. In UK the domestic abuse includes assault, harassment or sexual abuse. They also say that some of the specific forms of domestic violence are criminal offence. Those victims are protected under civil laws.

SUGGESTIONS:

Implementation of laws or procedures so that there would be no delay in justice.
Giving more awareness in rural local areas so that they can understand what is cruelty and what amounts to cruelty.
Active participation of women in any professions, educating them can lead to better society.
Providing IPC and others laws in secondary education would lead to secure and welfare society.

CONCLUSION:

Cruelty against the women itself is a serious problem in the society. Especially cruelty against the married women. In Indian society husband or relatives of husband torturing the women and a better her to commit suicide are more prevalent. To change this abusive situation and to protect those women and punish those offenders section 498 A was included in IPC. Due to this inclusion there are very much reduction in the cruelty rate. Government provides various awareness programs to prevent cruelty. These laws can be amended with time to time changes in society so as to give justice without flaws.