THE “MISUSE” NARRATIVE VS. SUBSTANTIVE JUSTICE: DECONSTRUCTING SECTION 498A

AUTHOR – RASHMI MALL* & DR. SHAIWALINI SINGH**

* LL.M (CRIMINAL LAW) STUDENT AT AMITY LAW SCHOOL LUCKNOW, AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH, LUCKNOW CAMPUS

** ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LAW, AMITY LAW SCHOOL LUCKNOW, AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH, LUCKNOW CAMPUS

BEST CITATION – RASHMI MALL & DR. SHAIWALINI SINGH, THE “MISUSE” NARRATIVE VS. SUBSTANTIVE JUSTICE: DECONSTRUCTING SECTION 498A, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (3) OF 2026, PG. 335-339, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/ZSSE9826

ABSTRACT

This research paper investigates the prevailing tension between the legislative intent of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code 1860 (now Sections 85 and 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023) and the judicial discourse surrounding its purported misuse. Introduced as a response to the alarming rise in dowry-related violence in the 1980s, Section 498A provided a critical legal framework for criminalizing domestic cruelty. However, over the decades, a narrative has emerged bolstered by landmark Supreme Court judgments that characterizes the law as a tool for ‘legal terrorism’ and personal vendetta. This paper deconstructs this narrative through a doctrinal analysis of case law, statistical trends from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), and sociological data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5). It argues that the low conviction rates often cited as proof of misuse are more accurately understood as a failure of the justice delivery system, stemming from police-mediated settlements, hostile witnesses, and patriarchal societal pressures. Furthermore, the paper analyses the procedural shifts introduced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, particularly the codification of preliminary inquiries and the institutionalization of cooling-off periods. The research concludes that while safeguards against arbitrary arrest are necessary, the current judicial and legislative trajectory risks trivializing domestic violence and undermining the substantive justice that the law was designed to provide.

Keywords: Section 498A, Domestic Violence, Misuse Narrative, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Substantive Justice.