Seek review of SC’s ruling on cruelty to women,CPM tells govt

The Supreme Court’s judgement that “kicking of a daughter-law” or “threatening her with divorce” does not amount to “cruelty” has been criticised by CPI-M polit buro member Brinda Karat who has asked the union government to file a review petition in the apex court.

Terming the judgement as “retrograde”,Brinda,in a letter addressed to Law Minister M Veerappa Moily,said the apex court’s decision would only “further deepen the miseries of women and undo the effect of various legislations passed for the emancipation of women.” “Such a judicial understanding of cruelty will be a license for domestic violence,both mental or physical. It may also encourage wife-beaters. If unchallenged,it will undo the positive steps taken by government and Parliament to provide a just legal framework to address the increasing number of cases of domestic violence and protect the lives and dignity of women within the domestic sphere,” Brinda in her letter said.

Asking the government to “urgently” file a review petition,she said “the government must play a proactive role in protecting the rights of women,especially when these rights are sought to be eroded by judgements which reflect an insensitive reading of the law.”

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The apex court bench of Justices S B Sinha and Cyriac Joseph had in a recent judgement,while interpreting the scope of Section 498A IPC (cruelty by husband and relatives towards wife),had held that if the mother-in-law had kicked the daughter-in-law or threatened to get her divorced from her son it does not amount to cruelty.

The bench had,however,held that it may not be cruelty as defined by 498A but might amount to an offence under some other penal provision,though it did not define the same.