Bail for Offences Under Section 498a and 406 of IPC to husband, family member, and relatives from Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh
Bail for offenses under Section 498a and 406 of IPC, the Husband Or Relative Of Husband Of A Woman Subjecting Her To Cruelty firstly have to file before the session court and if not granted then have come to file before High Court Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
Know what is 498a of IPC Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
Section 498a is a penal provision of the Indian Penal Code, which is only attracted after the marriage, it is in favor of the wife and against the husband and relatives. It not only provides punishment whereas defines cruelty as well, “any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the women or harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand. If the husband or any relative of the husband of a woman, subjects women to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. bail 498a 406 high court Chandigarh
Read Also: Difference Between Anticipatory and Regular Bails
Section 498a of IPC shield to wives against cruelty Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
Section 498a of IPC is a shield that is basically provided to women against cruelty. The Supreme Court of India and High Court enunciated various factual incidents under Section 498a of IPC. Calcutta High Court in the case titled Mazidul Miah vs. State of W.B., CRA No. 247 of 2006, decided on 25-06-2020, expounds that the Harassment by in-laws for woman’s black complexion is cruelty under Section 498-A of IPC. The Delhi High Court in the case titled AnkurNarang v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2019 SCC OnLine Del 8933, decided on 30-04-2019, held that the wife is entitled to lodge FIR under Section 498-a IPC from the parental place where she takes refuge even in absence of an allegation of harassment at the said Place. Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
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Section 498a of IPC Weapon rather than shield Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
Section 498a is mostly used as a weapon and misused against the husband and his relatives. The Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case titled Amarjit Kaur v. Jaswinder Kaur, 2020 SCC OnLine P&H 577, decided on 15-05-2020 stated that disgruntled wives use provisions of Section 498a of IPC as a weapon rather than a shield. The High Court of Bombay in the case titled State of Maharashtra v. Ashok, 2020 SCC OnLineBom 331, decided on 26-02-2020 observed that the family members should not be dragged without specific evidence against them, otherwise it will be considered that section 498a IPC is unfortunately used as a weapon. Further, in another case titled State of Maharashtra v. Basveshwar Kallapa Patne, 2020 SCC OnLineBom 219, decided on 03-02-2020 Bombay High Court in its judgment stated that the absence of specific details alleging cruelty and harassment by husband and his relatives would not attract the ingredients of Section 498a of IPC. The High Court of Bombay upheld the decision of the trial court in light of no evidence to hold the charge of cruelty.
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Section 406 of IPC with Section 489a for Streedhan Recovery
The Streedhan has been derived from the Sanskrit words as the word ‘Sri’ means a woman and whereas the word ‘Dhan’ means property, so in short it can be stated that the word Streedhan means the property of woman in which she has an absolute interest. Streedhan includes the jewelry, clothes, gifts given to the wife by the husband before the marriage; gifts are given by the husband family to the wife, and all other things are given to a woman before her marriage, and she carries the same to her matrimonial home will be considered as Streedhan.
Misappropriation of Streedhan from the side of the husband or relatives of the husband is a criminal act, which is punishable under Section 406. Indian Penal Code, 1860. If the marriage collapses between the husband and wife, the husband is entitled to return all the belonging back to the wife as she is the absolute owner of it, failure to do would attract the penal provisions. The husband’s family is also made liable under the provision of Section 34 with the common attention under Section 406. The Supreme Court in the case of Rashmi Kumar vs. Mahesh Kumar Bhada held that when the wife entrusts her Streedhan property with the dominion over that property to her husband or any other member of the family and the husband or such other member of the family dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his own use that property, or willfully suffers and another person to do so, he commits criminal breach of trust. Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
The concept of continuing retention of Sreedharan gets attracted from the date of deprivation of streedhan, for neither the husband nor any other family members can have any right over the streedhan and they remain the custodians, not the absolute owners. Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
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Relation Between Section 498A and 406 of IPC
In most of the cases wife faces the cruelty from the husband and his family member and at the same time the property of wife is in possession of husband and his family members and they refuse to return the belonging of wife back to her or use those belonging for their personal benefit at that time wife can file a case under Section 498A and Section 406 of IPC. Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
For the reverse possession of the Streedhan, if a woman, in any case, invokes Section 498A, it would be the misuse of the section, if the essential ingredients of Section 498A are not satisfied. The Indian Courts in no. of cases have stated not to misuse Section 498A if the essential ingredients do not get satisfied in the recovery of Streedhan. Section 498A is enshrined under the Indian Penal Code, to protect the wives from physical and mental harassment and any type of harassment arising due to dowry demand. Not only criminal provisions even civil provisions may also use to recover Streedhan. If invoking Section 406 is utilized to recover Streedhan and further it is used only to protect the wives, who are facing physical and/or mental harassment, then genuine victims will get protection.
Anticipatory bail for offenses 498a and 406 of IPC
The word ‘anticipatory’ is not defined anywhere in the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, but in simple language, it means that a direction is given by Session Court or High Court to Police Officer to release the person on Bail before he is arrested in the case of non-bailable offenses or it is an order by the Court that when a person arrested shall be released on bail. Section 438 is the provision of the code of criminal procedure code which provides “discretion for grant of bail to person apprehending arrest. Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
The Court is having a power to club the proceedings of different charges and the Court before granting the bail to an accused charged under Section 406 and 498A of IPC, may direct an investigation officer for the recovery of Streedhan firstly and after the recovery, the Court may grant the anticipatory bail. Failure in compliance recovery of Streedhan may be a ground for the rejection of anticipatory bail. Rejection of Anticipatory Bail from the Session Court, an Advocate can apply for the Anticipatory bail in High Court. Bail U/s 498a & 406 High Court Chandigarh
In the number of cases, the court held that the police and court are not the recovery mechanism, and the failure from the side of the Investigation officer to recover Streedhan cannot be ground for the rejection of Anticipatory bail. Hence it is the discretion of the court whether to grant bail or not with the condition for the recovery of Streedhan.
Author: This article was written by Rishab Bhandari, a Final Year Law Student at Chandigarh University.
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