GOING by some latest judgments, courts are no longer inclined to treat women as innocent victims. The Supreme Court has acknowledged that women involved in marital disputes often abuse Section 498A of the IPC to target in-laws. The apex court has directed that no arrests will be made in a dowry case without a verification of charges by a special police officer and a district-level family welfare committee. Though the appointment of such committees will add to the cost of administering justice in the country, the move would save innocents from unwarranted police harassment.

The law that everyone is innocent until declared guilty has been trampled upon with impunity. The handcuffing of a husband, his parents and brothers/sisters on the basis of a mere allegation exposes them to not just mental agony but also media trial and social disgrace. A subsequent acquittal does not restore them their lost self-respect and pride. Relying on a conviction rate of just 15.6 per cent in dowry cases, the Supreme Court has reached the conclusion that the blatant misuse of Section 498A has to stop. The court has said the impounding of passports of non-resident Indians involved in marital disputes should be avoided. There are several areas in which the law has been used as “a weapon for vengeance and personal vendetta”. The Delhi High Court has expressed concern over incidents of consensual sex being converted into rape after a break-up. The court refused to prosecute a man whose wife sought a retrial of a settled rape case.

In a recent case the Madras High Court was constrained to tell the family courts not to treat husbands like “armless soldiers” and order them “in a mechanical manner” to pay maintenance to wives. Where they have parents to support, the maintenance amount awarded to a wife has to be reasonable. Frequent instances of misuse of the law have forced courts to dilute legal protection secured for women over the years. Women approaching the police/courts for reasons other than the pursuit of justice or redress of a grievance have hurt their own cause.