[ptm]

> However, for almost a decade, it was mainly used by urban and semi urban, educated women as a revenge tactic.

Citation needed for this claim.

There a 100,000 498A cases a year - 13% of cases ended in conviction [1]. It is hard to say how many of the remaining 87% were "false".

[1] https://factly.in/the-conviction-rate-of-sec-498a-cases-fall...

[sn41]

These clauses are used by lawyers in civil disputes (divorce etc.) to speed up the legal proceedings by making it a criminal case, and to reduce the number of adjournments. Criminal conviction is not the real end here, it is a pressure tactic to get the civil judgment.

Note that India does not have a robust tradition of out-of-court settlement etc.

Conviction rates are misleading. They do not shed light on how and why these IPC clauses are invoked.

Another oncoming danger is POCSO - parents might use child molestation clauses against each other in civil disputes like divorce. See a recent judgment of Kerala High Court related to this instructing lawyers not to invoke this clause for frivolous purposes:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/pocso-convicti...

[kumarvvr]

Supreme Courts observation and Recommendations given in the following website.

https://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/laws/sc-directions-misuse-...

Important points quoted verbatim below

"a) That the allegations against all relatives of the husband cannot be taken at face value when in normal course it may only be the husband or at best his parents who may be accused of demanding dowry or causing cruelty and in order to check abuse of over implication, clear supporting material needs to be produced to proceed against other relatives of a husband"

"b) That there has been a growing tendency to abuse the said provision to rope in all the relatives including parents of advanced age, minor children, siblings, grand-parents and uncles on the strength of vague and exaggerated allegations without there being any verifiable evidence of physical or mental harm or injury which several times results in harassment and even arrest of innocent family members, including women and senior citizens."

"c)That misuse of Section 498A has also been judicially acknowledged in several cases."

"d) That in respect of relatives who are ordinarily residing outside India, the matter should proceed only if the Investigation Officer is convinced that arrest is necessary for fair investigation and In such cases impounding of passport or issuance of red corner notice should be avoided."

"e) That provision of counseling under Section 14 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, should be made mandatory before registration of a case under Section 498A ."