Atul Subhash Suicide : PIL In Supreme Court Seeks Reform Of Domestic Violence & Dowry Laws To Prevent Harassment Of Innocent Husbands

In the wake of the suicide of a man named Atul Subhash allegedly due to harassment by his wife through matrimonial cases, a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to ensure that husband and his family members are not harassed in cases filed under domestic violence and dowry laws.

The Public Interest Litigation filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari seeks directions to the Union to implement the observations made by the Supreme Court in Preeti Gupta v. State of Jharkhand(2010) and Achin Gupta v. State of Haryana(2024).

In Preeti Gupta, the Court had flagged the abuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, whereby the husband and his relatives are unnecessarily dragged into criminal cases alleging domestic cruelty against the wife,  and urged the legislature to make changes. In Achin Gupta, the Supreme Court urged the Parliament to consider amending the counterpart of Section 498A IPC in the new criminal code (Sections 85 and 86 Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) to prevent its abuse. However, the BNS, which came into operation with effect from July 1, 2024, has retained the provision.

"..we would like to observe that a serious relook of the entire provision(S.498A IPC) is warranted by the legislation. It is also a matter of common knowledge that exaggerated versions of the incident are reflected in a large number of complaints. The tendency of over implication is also reflected in a very large number of cases,"the court said in Preeti Gupta's case.

The petitioner also seeks the constitution of an expert committee of retired judges, eminent lawyers and legal jurists to review and reform existing dowry and domestic violence laws and suggest measures to prevent their misuse.

The petitioner seeks a further direction that marriage registrations should also record the articles/gifts given during marriage.

Citing the suicide of Atul Subhash, which sparked intense online debates, the petitioner said, "the time has come to make review and reforms in existing Dowry laws and Domestic Violence Act so that its misuse and abuse could be stopped and innocent men can be saved and real purpose of the Dowry laws may not be defeated."