According to Indian law, a woman in India can file different cases against men. Marriage indicates a strong connection between a man and a woman and can be executed through different marriage laws such as Hindu Marriage Act, Personal Marriage Act, etc. However, nowadays, it has become easy to break the marriage. As a result, the rate of divorce in India is increasing rapidly. The reports say that 1 out of every 50 marriages, is broken and has to be taken to court every year. Due to the increase in divorce cases, strict laws have been carried out in order to protect the interest of the women, but does not give any importance to the problems that a man has to undergo in a family courts.
In the case of divorce, women’s words are given utmost importance. The courts are biased against husbands unless the divorce is taken mutually by the partners. When a divorce is filed by the wife, the husband has to go through a lot of trouble. The husband has to face difficulties such as FIRs against him, allegations of domestic violence and dowry, matters related to maintenance and alimony etc. Other than this, husbands also have to fight for the custody of the child, which normally goes in favor of the mother, as she is the primary holder of her child, except in situations where the child is mature enough to form an opinion of his/her own.
Section 498A of IPC
Under Section 498A of IPC, wife is entitled to file complaint against husband. In Indian Penal Code (IPC), there is no definition for the word “Cruelty”, and therefore anything done by the husband which is against the morality of the society is defined as cruelty and based on this, FIRs are lodged. This offence is also considered under non-bailable offences which makes it more difficult for the husband to deal with it. On the other hand, wife makes it sure that the complaint is made on Friday so that defendant can not apply for the bail since the courts remain closed on weekends. This is an issue which the husband and his family witnesses. Many laws have been implemented for the welfare for women, but they use it for their benefits because of which there has been increase in fake cases by the wife.
In the case of Saritha v. R. Ramachandra, the wife on the ground of cruelty had filed a case under Sec. 498A against the husband and his whole family, the court dismissed the case as the wife was not able to produce even a single evidence for the same.
Protection
Under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), various sections deal with the protection of any person who is accused of any fake complaint. Other than this, many legal remedies have been made for person who are accused under any law enacted to protect women’s rights. A person can seek protection under below mentioned provisions:
Section 227: If any person believes that the complaint raised upon him by his wife is false, he can provide the evidence before the court for the same and on the basis of it, the judge may dismiss the case and decide accordingly.
Section 438: If any person thinks he would be arrested for any non-bailable offence, he may apply for the bail before the session court in order to circumvent his arrest by the police. This type of bail is also called Anticipatory Bail.
Section 482: If the High Court does not see any evidence to support the allegation made against the husband by his wife, the court has the power to dismiss the matter in order to protect the interest of law and cannot be used as a weapon for undue advantage.
Under Section 9 of CrPC, a person can also recover the damages occurred due to the proceeding or police custody for the false case.
Source: vidhikkarya.com
Picture: soolegal.com