The protection of women from domestic violence act was incorporated in the year 2005. The main aim of this act was to prevent woman and only woman from the acts of domestic abuse. It becomes apparent from the bare reading of the definition of the term “aggrieved person” that it includes only women, which means that only the men can be prosecuted under this act and not woman, as she cannot be called a perpetrator of domestic violence under this act. This act has given an excessive advantage to the woman and this is used by the women as a lethal weapon which in some situations is being misused against men to extort, exploit, and threaten them for selfish reasons by women. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 was used to protect the women who are abused by their husband and his relatives for the sake of fulfilling certain wants by them. However this act as of lately has been misused and abused by the women for their selfish and wrong reasons.
Domestic violence in general includes the threat of harm or injuries, which may result in injury to the health, safety and life of the women/wife caused with an intention to force her to meet the demands made by the husband or his relatives. However, domestic violence is not limited to mere abuse by a man; it also includes the physical or mental harm caused. It also includes the failure by the man to look after the woman in a relationship with him by not providing her clothes, food or shelter with an intention to cause harm will also be categorised as domestic violence under the act. Under this act, domestic violence is not limited to the threat of actual abuse but also includes the abuse that is physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic in nature.
At present this Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is used as tool to harass the husband or his relatives to make sure that he yields to the illegitimate demands of the wife instead of vice versa. In heft amount of cases, the aged parents and other relatives of the husband are falsely accused of physically and/or mentally torturing the wife, thereby causing unwanted tension and stress, which generally results in ill health of the aged parents and physical and mental distress to the family members of the husband.
Although this act was established to protect the wife from undue harassment and abuse, instead it causes untold pain and misery to the husband and his elderly family members in the situations where it is misused by the wife. According to the legal experts, this act although has some straightforward provisions to protect the wife, yet it has caused more harm than good due to its misuse, misapplication and misinterpretation by the women. When a husband or his family is accused under the provisions of this act, no matter what may be the result of their prosecution may be with the affect of the social stigma it ends up affecting the future prospects of the husband. Although the Poor and uneducated women still have to bare the torture and abuse from their husband and his family for whom this act can result in freedom from abuse. Yet majority of the well-educated women are using this act for their selfish reasons to extract vengeance from their husbands and his family. They falsely accuse their husbands and his relatives so as to get significant wealth by means of compensations that is paid by the husband. With such flawed and faulty intentions, these selfish women are ready to jump at the smallest opportunity to file a complaint against their husband and his family. This act needs to be revised in order to prevent the massive misuse and misapplication of the act. The true intention of this act was to protect domestic violence victims from further pain and to relieve them from their despair. This act was never established to cater to the selfish wishes of women who would not mind accusing their husband and his family of committing atrocities for the sake of securing financial benefits. Therefore, only genuine victims of domestic violence must be recognized and given assistance too; to stop this misuse of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

What to do when the husband and his family are falsely accused under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005?
However, this act is every so often used as an influential means by women to file frivolous and false allegations and to exploit and harass their husband and his family. But, the law even when misused can do justice with the help of other laws, and hence there are always counter steps available for the husband and his family.

  • The husband and his family can file a case of defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Panel Code.
  • Section 182 of IPC is one of the prevalently used measures against false 498A cases. When the judiciary discovers that the averments made by the culprit were false, the culprit is subjected to imprisonment of 6 months or fine or both under Section 182 of IPC. That person will be charged on the grounds of misrepresenting the judiciary with dishonest evidence.