Section 498 of IPC is being misused by women and girls: HC observes | Section 498 of IPC is being misused by women and girls: HC observes

In a very important judgment given by the Gujarat High Court while quashing the complaint alleging mental-physical torture of son Vadhoo, it observed that the current situation in the society is such that the complainants (girls-women) have been abusing Section-498-A of the IPC law. is happening and in such cases all the family members are implicated in the FIR only with the malicious intent of causing torture and harassment. The Supreme Court itself has taken a serious note of such incidents and issued important judgments.

Section-498-A of IPC is being misused: HC
In one such case, Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt of the High Court criticized the abuse of legal process by falsely implicating an 86-year-old mother-in-law and father-in-law in an FIR under Section 498 of the Act. The High Court quashed the FIR against the elderly mother-in-law and the proceedings connected with it. This judgment of Gujarat High Court will prove to be very useful in the case of misuse of the law of 498.

General allegations in FIR against mother-in-law
The High Court again reiterated that criminal prosecution should not be misused to harass anyone or to take personal revenge. General allegations have been made in the FIR against the petitioner mother-in-law in this case and they have been falsely implicated in this FIR. In this case, the applicant is the mother-in-law of the complainant and their age also needs to be considered here. The petitioner mother-in-law was 80 years old when she filed this quashing petition in 2017 and now she is 86 years old. Thus, considering the age of the petitioner and the general allegations of the FIR, if the complaint is sustained, it would amount to abuse of legal process and consequently serve no purpose. In these circumstances, the FIR against the petitioner mother-in-law and the proceedings connected with it are declared null and void.

The daughter-in-law lodged an FIR against him in a completely wrong way
Advocate Yogini Upadhyay, appearing in the writ petition filed by the petitioner mother-in-law, said that her daughter-in-law has lodged an FIR against her completely wrongly. In fact the petitioners are elderly and they themselves are fighting against old age. Allegations of mental-physical torture of the daughter-in-law are absolutely false and baseless. General allegations are made in the complaint but there is no concrete evidence to support or prove them. Such FIRs are being filed against the petitioners only with the intention of harassing the family and taking personal revenge, causing them to be terribly harassed and tortured. Therefore, the High Court should consider all aspects including the circumstances of the case, the advanced age of the applicant, especially age, and dismiss the complaint against the applicant. Accepting the arguments of the petitioner’s mother-in-law, the High Court declared an important judgment quashing the FIR against her.

The father-in-law also passed away during the course of the case
A quashing petition was filed in 2017 by the petitioner mother-in-law to quash the FIR filed by the daughter-in-law. However, the elderly father-in-law also passed away in 2020 during the hearing of the case. However, the 86-year-old continued to fight for justice in the High Court. Finally, two years after the death of her husband, she got a big relief when she got justice from the High Court.