Debate I Low Conviction Rate in Dowry Cases, No Proof of Misuse

Section 498A of the IPC deals with domestic violence and cruelty towards women by the husband or his family.

(In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has issued new directions in dowry-related cases that rules out immediate arrest of the accused. The Quint debates whether the new anti-dowry law will prevent misuse of Sec 498A. This is the Counterview. You may like to read the View by Shuma Raha here.)

Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been one of its fiercely debated sections, especially after multiple decisions of the Supreme Court. Between 2006 and 2015, the conviction rate for cases under this section has fallen continuously. The conviction rate is among the lowest of all IPC crimes.

After the Supreme Court’s decision in 2014 ruling out automatic arrests in Section 498A cases, it has once again issued important directions in dealing with cases registered under the section.

The Supreme Court has now directed that family welfare committees be constituted by the District Legal Services Authority. The committee will look into all such cases filed under Section 498A and submit a report within one month. The court also ruled that no arrests should be made before the committee submits its report.

It added that these rules will not apply to offences involving physical injuries or death.

As different courts have in the recent past acknowledged the misuse of Section 498-A, we look at the number of cases registered under this section and the corresponding conviction rate.

Firstly, What is Section 498A?

But before we get into the numbers and figures, let us first understand what exactly Section 498A entails.

Section 498A of the IPC basically deals with domestic violence and cruelty towards women by the husband or his family. It reads:

Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty. – Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation. – For the purpose of this section, “cruelty” means –

(a) 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 woman; or

(b) 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.

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What Happened to These Cases in The Last 10 Years?

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) releases All India Crime data every year. The report titled ‘Crime in India’ has detailed information on every type of crime registered. This report also has data on number of cases registered under the important IPC sections and their disposal by courts.

In the last 10 years between 2006 and 2015, the number of cases being filed under Section 498-A is on the rise and there is roughly a 10 percent rise in the number of pending cases each year.

The number of pending cases at the end of 2015 is more than twice the number of pending cases at the end of 2006.

At the end of 2006, 2.06 lakh cases were pending and this number increased to 4.77 lakh by the end of 2015, an increase of more than 130 percent in 10 years.

Acquittals Increase While Convictions Decrease

While the number of convictions was between 6,000 and 8,000 in each of these 10 years, the number of acquittals increased consistently.

From 24,404 acquittals in 2006, this number went up to 39,658 in 2015, an increase of more than 60 percent.

Since 2012, the number of withdrawn cases has been more than the number of convictions each year.

For every case that is resulting in conviction, five other cases are resulting in an acquittal and one case is withdrawn.

The net result is that only one out of every seven cases is resulting in conviction.

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Conviction Rate of Crimes Under Sec 498A VS Other IPC Crimes

While the number of cases registered under Section 498A is increasing each year, the conviction rate in these cases is falling.

This could be because of false cases or the failure of the prosecution to prove that the accused were guilty of the offence.

The conviction rate of cases under Section 498-A was 21.9 percent in 2006 and dropped to 14.2 percent in 2015. On the other hand, the average conviction rate in other IPC crimes remained more or less at 40 percent each year and has in fact increased in the last two years.

The conviction rate of cases under 498-A was less than one-third of the conviction rate for all other IPC crimes.

Conviction Rate of Sec 498A Cases is Among The Lowest of All IPC Crimes

The NCRB’s ‘Crime in India’ report categorises crimes various heads of the IPC.

Till the year 2013, crimes were grouped into 23 categories. Since 2014, all IPC crimes have been grouped into 34 different categories.

If one looks at the respective conviction rates of all the categories, cases registered under Section 498A have one of the lowest conviction rates.

In nine out of these 10 years, the conviction rate of Section 498A cases was in the bottom three.

In three of the 10 years, this category had the lowest conviction rate of all.

It also needs to be noted that this category consistently figures in the top 10 in terms of the number of cases registered.

Are False Cases on The Rise?

There is no conclusive evidence to prove that false cases are on the rise.

But the continuous fall in the conviction rate is alarming and will need a deeper analysis to understand the underlying causes.

(Inputs by Prudhvi)

(This article was published in an arrangement with Factly.)

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