Conviction Rate For ‘Cruelty Against Women’ Cases Is Among The Lowest For All IPC Crimes

Sec 498A of IPC has been one of the fiercely debated IPC sections, especially after the Supreme Court order last year where it laid down a list of guidelines to be followed by Police in these cases. Between 2007 & 2013, the number of cases registered under this section has consistently gone up while the conviction rate for cases under this section has come down. In fact, the conviction rate for cases under this category is less than half of the average conviction rate for all other IPC crimes. The conviction rate in this category is also one of the lowest.

The Supreme Court ruled last year that no arrests should be made automatically when a case under Section 498-A of the IPC is registered. The court ruled that the police should satisfy themselves about the necessity for arrest and duly fill a checklist of parameters including the reasons for the arrest. This judgment invited extreme opinions from people of various quarters. This piece is an attempt to look at the number of cases registered under this section and the corresponding conviction rate.

Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code deals with domestic violence and cruelty towards women by the Husband or his family. It reads

The National Crime Records Bureau 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.

Between 2007 and 2013, the number of cases being filed under Sec 498A of IPC is on the rise and there is roughly a 10% rise in the number of pending cases each year. The number of cases pending trial was around 2.67 lakh at the beginning of 2007. This number increased to 4.66 lakh at the beginning of 2013, a rise of almost 75% in 7 years.

While the number of convictions was more or less close to 7000 cases in each of these 7 years, the number of acquittals increased consistently. From 25791 acquittals in 2007, this number went up to 38165 in 2013. The number of cases withdrawn was more or less equal to the number of convictions in each of these 7 years. For every case that is resulting in conviction, 5 other cases are resulting in acquittal while one other case is being withdrawn. The net result is that only one out of every 6-7 cases is resulting in conviction.

While the number of cases is rising each year, it is surprising to note that the conviction rate is dropping. This could be because of false cases or the failure of the prosecution to prove that the accused were guilty of the offense. The conviction rate of cases under Sec 498A was 21% in 2007 and dropped to 16% in 2013 while the average conviction rate in other IPC crimes remained more or less at 40% each year. In other words, the conviction rate in cases under 498A is less than half of the average conviction rate for all other IPC crimes.

The NCRB categorizes crimes under IPC into 23 different categories. If one looks at the respective conviction rates of for these 23 different categories, cases registered under Sec 498A (Cruelty by Husband & Relatives) have one of the lowest conviction rates. In 3 out of the seven years, this category was at the bottom of conviction rates. In these seven years, the cases registered under Sec 498A were among the bottom three in terms of conviction rates. At the same time, this category is in the top seven when it comes to number of cases registered.

Nearly 20-25% of all women arrested were booked under Section 498A and this category has seen highest women arrests of all categories consistently from 2007. This category has the highest women to men ratio in terms of arrests in all the years. In the category of the women arrested above 45 years, the incidence of 498A cases is more.

There is no conclusive evidence to prove that the false cases under this section are on the rise. But the lower conviction rate in this category is alarming and will need a deeper analysis to understand the underlying causes.
There is also no direct measure to count suicides (if any) because of these false cases. NCRB does not count suicides (if any) because of false cases as a separate category. These deaths are counted under family problem category. In 2013 for instance 21,096 men committed suicide because of family problems while 11,229 women committed suicide for the same reason. More than 2000 women also committed suicide because of dowry issues in 2013.