SC order on domestic violence is a step back for women's rights law

By saying misuse of IPC Section 498A is rampant and needs to be tackled, SC revealed its biases

On July 27, the Supreme Court laid down directions in Rajesh Sharma and Ors vs State of UP “to prevent the misuse of Section 498A [on a husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty] of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as acknowledged in certain studies and decisions”. Incidentally, this is the same court that chose to look the other way when LGBT activists, in Suresh Kumar Kaushal vs Naz Foundation, brought to its notice the wanton abuse of another sister penal provision, Section 377, saying that “mere fact that the section is