A single judge at Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court highlighted the Legal terrorism aspect of 498A IPC cases.
From Paras 10 to 12,
10. Nowadays the very purpose of the insertion of Section 498-A in the Penal Code, 1860 with the object to punish the husband or his relatives, has been defined. In most of the cases, this section is beingmisused as observed by several High Courts and the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar: [(2014) 8 SCC 273] has observed that the relatives are unnecessarily being made accused under section 498-A of the I.P.C.
11. The cases are lodged under Section 498-A of the Penal Code,1860 only to settle the matrimonial dispute. some times the FIR wife lodges the FIR immediately after receipt of the summons from theFamily courts. Nowadays there is a package of 5 cases against the husband and family members in family court and the criminal courtunder I.P.C., the Hindu Marriage Act and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
12. The Courts have experienced that on the general and omnibusallegations the family members and distant relatives are being roped in a case arising out of Section 498-A of the Penal Code, 1860, which wasconsidered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Geeta Mehrotra v. State of UP : [(2012) 10 SCC 741]. The cases related to distant relativeswere further considered and deprecated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in K. Subba Rao v. The State of Telangana : [(2018) 14 SCC 452]
Finally from Para 17,
Rajan and Anr Vs The State of Madhya Pradesh and Anr on 17 Aug 202317. At present, the husband and wife both have settled in Australia. The parents of the husband are being harassed by way of the criminal case in India. Applicant No.1 Rajan Mathur is aged about 67 years and his wife is also a senior citizen. General allegations have been levelled against ‘Jethani’ hence she has unnecessarily been dragged in the FIR. As per the contents of the FIR, the husband of respondent No.2 was not even in India at the time of so-called omission of crime. Respondent No.2 has given the Power of Attorney to her father to contest the case against these applicants. This is now a case of reverse cruelty upon them. There is no specific allegation that when her husband left India for Australia there was any demand for dowry, etc. Now a day it is very common for the husband and wife to reside or do jobs outside of India and their parents are made to suffer in India by way of criminal or matrimonial litigation.
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