Noting that provisions on cruelty against a woman in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was nothing by verbatim reproduction of Section 498A of the IPC, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to consider making necessary changes in Sections 85 and 86 of the new law to avoid its misuse for false complaints.

“Section 498A of the IPC is reproduced verbatim in the aforementioned sections 85 and 86. Judges JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra’s bench stated that the only change is that Section 86 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 now serves as the explanation for Section 498A of the IPC.

“Before both the new provisions come into force, we request that the Legislature look into the issue as highlighted above, taking into consideration the pragmatic realities and consider making necessary changes in Sections 85 and 86, respectively, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023,” the Bench stated.

The Central Government has already announced that Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita will come into effect from July 1, 2024.

The top court made these observations while considering an appeal brought by Achin Gupta against the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision on April 5, 2022, to not overturn a FIR that his wife had filed at the Urban Estate Hisar Police Station, District Hisar, Haryana, alleging that he had been subjected to cruelty and demanded dowry.

The Bench declared that the FIR should be quashed because a straightforward reading of the charge sheet and the FIR showed that the woman’s accusations were quite broad, general, and sweeping, and they did not specifically mention any instances of criminal conduct.