IPC 498A in the new BNS 2023

If you have been named in an FIR or notice under this section, the section number alone does not decide the outcome — the facts, the evidence and the procedure do. Many cases turn on procedural lapses, bail strategy and the exact ingredients of the offence.

This is the provision most people mean when they say 'the dowry harassment section', and it is among the most frequently registered and most fiercely contested offences in Indian matrimonial litigation. Under the BNS the offence sits at Section 85, while the definition of cruelty that gives it meaning was split out into Section 86. The maximum punishment is three years and a fine.

What the section requires

For the offence to be made out, these ingredients have to be established:

• the woman was married to the accused, or the accused is a relative of her husband
• the accused subjected her to cruelty
• the conduct meets the statutory definition of cruelty in BNS 86, which is either conduct likely to drive the woman to suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to her life, limb or health (mental or physical), or harassment aimed at coercing her or anyone related to her to meet an unlawful demand for property or valuable security

What changed from the IPC

The substance did not change. BNS 85 reproduces IPC 498A almost word for word, and BNS 86 reproduces the Explanation that used to sit beneath it. The visible change is structural: what was one section with an explanation is now two sections, so a charge is properly read as 85 with 86 rather than as a single provision. Because the punishment stayed at three years, the arrest safeguards that apply to offences punishable with less than seven years continue to apply, and they now flow from Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita rather than Section 41A of the old Code.

How this section is distinguished from related offences

Cruelty under BNS 85 has to be separated from three neighbouring provisions that are often pleaded alongside it. Dowry death, now BNS 80, applies only where a woman dies of burns, bodily injury or otherwise than in normal circumstances within seven years of marriage and it is shown she was subjected to cruelty or harassment for dowry soon before her death; it carries a minimum of seven years and can extend to life. Offences under the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 target the giving, taking or demanding of dowry itself and are separate from cruelty. Physical injury is charged separately as hurt or grievous hurt, because BNS 85 punishes the course of cruel conduct rather than a specific assault. The same facts can support more than one of these, which is why charge sheets in this area are usually multi-section.

How the case proceeds

The offence is cognizable and non-bailable, and it is generally non-compoundable, though several states have amended the position and High Courts routinely quash proceedings where the parties have genuinely settled. Arrest is not automatic. In Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar (2014) the Supreme Court held that for offences punishable with up to seven years, police must not arrest mechanically; they are required to issue a notice of appearance and to record reasons satisfying the statutory conditions before arresting, and magistrates must apply their mind before authorising detention. Those directions were given in the context of this very section and remain the practical governing framework.

Evidence that usually decides these cases

What decides these cases is contemporaneity. Complaints made to police, a protection officer, a family elder or a helpline while the conduct was continuing carry far more weight than an account assembled after the marriage broke down, because the defence in almost every contested case is that the allegations were manufactured for advantage in divorce or maintenance. Medical records showing treatment for injury, anxiety or depression during the marriage matter for the same reason. Where the allegation is an unlawful demand, the financial trail is central: bank transfers, receipts for goods purchased, jewellery valuations and the list of articles given at the time of marriage. Messages and call recordings are commonly relied on, and their value depends on being preserved in their original form with the device available, rather than as forwarded screenshots.

How courts approach sentencing

The maximum is three years and a fine. Sentences at the upper end are uncommon; the more consequential outcomes in practice are the pendency of proceedings, the effect on parallel matrimonial litigation, and whether the matter is quashed following a settlement. Because the offence is punishable with less than seven years, it falls squarely within the category where the Supreme Court has directed restraint in arrest.

Defences that commonly apply

The most frequently successful answer is that the allegations are general and omnibus — that the complaint names relatives without attributing any specific act, date or role to them. In Kahkashan Kausar v State of Bihar (2022) the Supreme Court quashed proceedings against relatives on precisely that basis, and the reasoning is applied widely. Delay between the alleged conduct and the complaint is relevant, particularly where the complaint follows the filing of a divorce or maintenance petition. Absence of the statutory ingredients is a complete answer: conduct that is unpleasant but neither endangers life, limb or health nor is tied to an unlawful demand for property does not fall within BNS 86.

How a case under this section typically progresses

The matter begins with a complaint, usually followed by a preliminary enquiry or counselling in states that provide for it, and then an FIR. Investigation and a charge sheet follow, after which the magistrate takes cognizance and frames charges, and it is at that stage that discharge applications on the ground of omnibus allegations are typically argued. Trial before a magistrate follows. Running alongside, quashing petitions under the High Court's inherent powers are common, both where the parties have settled and where the complaint discloses no specific role for a particular accused. Because the criminal case usually moves in parallel with divorce and maintenance proceedings, the overall timeline is governed as much by the matrimonial litigation as by the criminal court.

Documents worth gathering early

Preserve the marriage certificate or proof of marriage, and the list of articles and gifts exchanged at the time of the wedding, which is the document that most often decides a streedhan dispute. Collect any complaint made during the marriage, in whatever form, with the date it was made, along with medical records, prescriptions and discharge summaries from the relevant period. Bank statements and transfer records covering the marriage are important on both sides, because they either establish or negate the alleged demand. Messages and call logs should be preserved on the original device rather than exported as screenshots. Where matrimonial proceedings are already on foot, keep the pleadings from those cases together with the criminal papers, since inconsistencies between the two are the first thing the other side will look for.

Note on bail and cognizability. Whether an offence is cognizable, and whether it is bailable, is set by the First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023, not by the BNS section itself. Because that classification decides whether police can arrest without a warrant and how bail is approached, check it for your specific section with an advocate rather than relying on a general summary.

If you have been named under this section

A notice requiring appearance is not an arrest, and complying with it is normally the correct course; failing to appear is what converts a notice into grounds for arrest. Where arrest is genuinely apprehended, anticipatory bail is the remedy, and it is ordinarily sought before the Sessions Court or High Court. Because these complaints usually arise alongside divorce, maintenance or custody proceedings, anything said or filed in one forum tends to surface in the others, so the sensible order is to take advice once across the whole dispute rather than to respond forum by forum.

Common misunderstandings

"498A no longer exists under the new law."
It exists as BNS 85, with the definition of cruelty at BNS 86. Offences committed before 1 July 2024 are still tried under IPC 498A; the change of numbering does not undo a pending case.

"An FIR under this section means immediate arrest."
Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar requires police to issue a notice of appearance and record written reasons before arresting in offences punishable with up to seven years. Arrest is the exception, not the default.

"Naming every relative strengthens the complaint."
It usually weakens it. Courts have repeatedly cautioned against omnibus allegations against relatives with no specific role attributed to them, and such names are frequently discharged or quashed.

"Any unhappy marriage amounts to cruelty."
The section requires conduct meeting the BNS 86 threshold — either conduct likely to drive the woman to suicide or endanger her life, limb or health, or harassment tied to an unlawful demand for property. Ordinary marital discord does not meet it.

Related BNS sections

• BNS 85 — Cruelty by husband or his relatives
• BNS 86 — Cruelty defined
• BNS 80 — Dowry death (IPC 304B)
• BNS 115 — Voluntarily causing hurt
• BNS 351 — Criminal intimidation (IPC 506)

Which code applies to your case

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 replaced the Indian Penal Code 1860 with effect from 1 July 2024, and the change is not retrospective. The date the offence is alleged to have been committed decides which code governs it. An offence alleged to have occurred on or after 1 July 2024 proceeds under the BNS. An offence alleged to have occurred before that date continues to be investigated, tried, appealed and punished under the IPC, even where the FIR was registered later. Cases from the transition period frequently cite both numbering systems, which is why the old section number remains worth knowing.

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General information for understanding the IPC→BNS change, not legal advice. The BNS restructured many offences — confirm the exact section, sub-section and punishment with a licensed advocate.