Socio-Legal Dimensions Of Marital Cruelty In India: From Section 498a IPC To The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
- IJLLR Journal
- 11 hours ago
- 1 min read
Ayush Raj, Rizvi Law College affiliated to Mumbai University
Lakshya Srivastava, DME Law College affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University
ABSTRACT
The introduction of the criminalisation of matrimonial cruelty in India was a move towards a progressive approach in order to combat the rising threat of dowry deaths and domestic violence faced by women. Historically the provision was in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, under Section 498A which was then replaced by Section 85, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and has acted as a potent protection. At the same time, however, it has provoked systemic tensions with the proliferation of complaints about procedural abuse, kidnapping of relatives of those arrested, and “unnecessary” involvement of relatives in the case. Over the past 40 years, the judicial system in India, headed by the Supreme Court, has actively engaged in a delicate equilibrium between the structural protection of vulnerable spouses and the constitutional rights to personal liberty enshrined in Article 21. This paper examines some of the key features of the judicial evolution of the matrimonial cruelty regime, including the development of anti-arrest guidelines, the judicial elimination of frivolous complaints and the shift to the contemporary statutory framework.
