Section 85 BNS — Cruelty by a Husband or His Relatives

What changed on 1 July 2024

On 1 July 2024 three new statutes replaced the three that had governed criminal law in India for generations. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 gave way to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 gave way to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 gave way to the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.

For the offence this page is about, the change was almost entirely one of numbering. Section 498A of the IPC became Section 85 of the BNS. The Explanation to Section 498A, which told courts what "cruelty" meant, was lifted out and given its own number — Section 86. Read the two together and you have exactly what Section 498A used to say, word for word.

Which section applies to your matter

This catches people out, so it is worth being precise. The BNS applies to offences committed on or after 1 July 2024. Cruelty that occurred before that date is still charged under Section 498A IPC, which was expressly saved for pending and past matters. Procedure is different again: an investigation or trial that begins after 1 July 2024 follows the BNSS, whichever penal section is charged.

So it is entirely normal, and entirely correct, to see an FIR under Section 498A IPC being investigated under BNSS procedure, with a notice issued under Section 35(3) of the BNSS. If your FIR says 498A, nothing has gone wrong. And where cruelty ran across the changeover date — as it often does, since cruelty is rarely a single event — both sections may appear.

Note the coincidence that trips people up: 482 used to mean quashing under the CrPC and now means anticipatory bail under the BNSS. Quashing moved to 528.

The exact text of Sections 85 and 86

These sections sit in Chapter V of the BNS, headed "Of Offences Against Woman and Child". Here they are in full, because on a question like this the actual words matter more than anyone's summary of them.

What the law counts as cruelty

Section 86 has two limbs, and they are joined by the word "or". That single word does a great deal of work, and misunderstanding it is the most common error people make about this section.

Because the limbs are alternatives, a case can be made out under limb (a) with no allegation of dowry at all. Equally, a demand for money by itself is not automatically cruelty under limb (b) — the harassment and its purpose have to be shown.

What courts have treated as cruelty

There is no closed list, and there cannot be, because the question is always whether particular conduct, in a particular household, was of the kind the section describes. But the pattern in the reported decisions is reasonably clear. Persistent taunting and humiliation over money or a woman's family; withholding food, medical treatment or her own belongings; confining her or cutting her off from her family; physical violence; threats to throw her out or to take a second wife; and demands for property backed by pressure on her parents — these are the kinds of allegations that courts have found capable of amounting to cruelty.

Quick reference — how the offence is classified

These four labels — cognizable, bailable, compoundable, and which court — decide almost everything about how a case will actually behave. They come from the First Schedule to the BNSS.

Who can set the law in motion

Here is something almost no other page on this section explains, and it matters. The First Schedule does not simply say "cognizable". It makes cognizability conditional on who gives the information. The entry provides that the offence is cognizable if information is given to the officer in charge of a police station by:

• the woman aggrieved by the offence; or
• a person related to her by blood, marriage or adoption; or
• where there is no such relative, a public servant belonging to a class notified by the State Government for this purpose.

The practical effect is that a neighbour's complaint, an anonymous letter, or a report from someone with no relationship to the woman does not by itself oblige the police to register an FIR under this section. The law is deliberately built so that the woman, or her family, decides whether the criminal process starts.

Punishment, fine and limitation

The maximum is three years. There is no minimum, which means a court that convicts has a wide discretion and can impose a short sentence on the right facts. A fine is compulsory, but the section does not fix an amount, so that too is for the court.

The three-year limitation, and why it is softer than it sounds

Section 514 of the BNSS bars a court from taking cognizance after the limitation period. For an offence punishable with more than one year but not more than three years, that period is three years. Section 85 falls squarely in that band.

Read alone, that looks like a hard deadline that would defeat most matrimonial complaints, since cruelty is usually endured for years before anyone goes to the police. In practice it is far less rigid, for three reasons.

1. Cruelty is a continuing offence. The courts have consistently held that where cruelty continues, limitation runs from the last act, not the first. The leading authority is Arun Vyas v. Anita Vyas (1999), and High Courts have continued to apply the principle. A marriage in which the conduct persisted until last month does not become unactionable because it also happened five years ago.
2. The relevant date is fixed by statute. Section 514 now expressly ties the reckoning to the date the complaint is filed or the date the information is recorded by the police. Delay by the investigating agency after that point does not eat into the period.
3. Delay can be condoned. The BNSS carries forward the power to take cognizance after the period has run where the delay is properly explained, or where it is otherwise necessary in the interests of justice. Courts are alive to the reasons a woman may not come forward at once.

If you are the wife: how a complaint actually starts in Delhi

What follows is how these matters move in practice in Delhi. It is a description of ordinary practice, not a rule of law, and every district works slightly differently.

The Crime Against Women Cell

Delhi Police runs Crime Against Women Cells, set up under the Delhi Police Act, with a headquarters unit at the Special Police Unit for Women and Children at Nanakpura and cells at district level. Their function is to examine matrimonial complaints and attempt reconciliation before an FIR is registered. Most Section 85 complaints in Delhi begin here rather than at the police station counter.

1. A written complaint, filed in person The cell does not act on its own. The woman attends the CAW Cell for her district with a written complaint setting out what happened and when, and her identity and address proof.
2. Her statement is recorded, and she is counselled A counsellor speaks to her first, alone. This is also where she is told what the different legal routes actually are.
3. The complaint is examined The cell's legal side considers whether what is alleged discloses an offence, and an inquiry officer is appointed.
4. Both sides are called The husband and the named relatives are called. What is issued at this stage is in the nature of a request to attend, not a summons — but non-attendance is noticed, and it tends to push the matter towards an FIR.
5. Joint counselling Commonly five to seven sessions, spread over some months. There is no statutory time limit on this stage, which is both its strength and its weakness.
6. Lists are exchanged where property is claimed Where stridhan or jewellery is in issue, itemised lists are exchanged and often this alone resolves a large part of the dispute.
7. If it does not settle, the matter goes for FIR The inquiry officer forwards it to the jurisdictional police station for registration, and the investigation proper begins.

If the police will not register the FIR

This is the single most useful thing on this page for a woman who has been turned away from a counter, so it is set out step by step. The BNSS gives a ladder, and each rung is worth using properly, because each one creates a record.

1. Ask for registration, in writing Hand in a written complaint at the police station and ask for the free copy the law entitles you to. Section 173(2) of the BNSS requires that a copy of the information recorded be given forthwith, free of cost, to the informant or the victim.
2. Use the Zero FIR and the e-FIR if you need to Section 173(1) now allows information to be given "irrespective of the area where the offence is committed" — so you are not turned away for being in the wrong district. Information may also be given by electronic communication, but it must be signed within three days to be taken on record. People lose weeks by not knowing that condition.
3. Write to the Deputy Commissioner of Police Section 173(4) allows a person aggrieved by refusal to send the substance of the information in writing, by post, to the Superintendent of Police — the Deputy Commissioner in Delhi. If satisfied that a cognizable offence is disclosed, that officer must investigate or direct an investigation. Keep the postal receipt and the tracking record.
4. Apply to the Magistrate If that produces nothing, Section 175(3) of the BNSS allows an application to the Magistrate, who may direct an investigation. The application must show that you first approached the police and then the superior officer, and it is supported by an affidavit.

If you have been named: notice, arrest and bail

Being named in a matrimonial complaint is frightening, and the fear is usually of immediate arrest. That fear is, in most cases, out of proportion to what actually happens.

The Arnesh Kumar safeguards

In Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014) — a case which arose out of Section 498A itself — the Supreme Court held that police must not arrest mechanically in offences punishable with up to seven years. The directions require officers to satisfy themselves that arrest is necessary on the grounds the law specifies, to record reasons in a checklist, and to forward that checklist to the Magistrate, who must himself be satisfied before authorising detention. Where arrest is not necessary, a notice to appear is to be issued instead.

The Section 35(3) notice

What used to be a notice under Section 41A of the CrPC is now a notice under Section 35(3) of the BNSS. It directs a person to appear before the officer. The rule of thumb is simple and worth following: a person who receives such a notice, appears as required, and cooperates with the investigation ordinarily should not be arrested. Ignoring the notice is what changes that.

Anticipatory bail

An application under Section 482 of the BNSS (what used to be Section 438 CrPC) is made to the Sessions Court at the relevant district court complex, and if refused, to the High Court. Most people apply as soon as they learn of the FIR. The court fee on the application is nominal — the cost that matters is professional fees, not court fees.

Relatives who had nothing to do with it

The courts have said this many times, and it remains one of the strongest points available to a family that has been named wholesale. In Preeti Gupta v. State of Jharkhand (2010) the Supreme Court recorded the tendency to implicate all relatives of the husband, including those living far away, and in Dara Lakshmi Narayana v. State of Telangana (2024) it again cautioned against omnibus allegations against an entire family without specific attribution.

Where a relative lived separately, in another city, or abroad, that is established with documents rather than argument — rent agreements, utility bills in their name, employment records, school records for children, passport entry and exit stamps, or visa records. Those documents are what a quashing petition is built on.

Which court, and where in Delhi

A Section 85 case is tried by a Judicial Magistrate of the First Class. In Delhi that means one of the district court complexes, and which one depends on the police district where the FIR was registered — not on where either party lives.

Anticipatory bail goes to the Sessions Court at the same complex, and then to the Delhi High Court. A petition to quash the FIR can only be filed in the Delhi High Court.

District boundaries and court allocations are revised from time to time. Confirm the current position from the Delhi District Courts website or the filing counter before you travel.

What it costs — and the free legal aid nobody mentions

People assume a criminal case is ruinously expensive from the first day. The court's own charges are, in fact, very small. It is professional fees that vary.

Figures from the published Delhi district courts court-fee schedule. Schedules are revised; confirm at the filing counter.

Advocate's fees are a different matter entirely, and they vary widely with the stage of the case, the court, and the advocate's standing. We do not publish a fee range, because any figure would be wrong for someone and because an advocate's fee is a matter between that advocate and the client. What is worth insisting on is that the fee, and what it covers, is agreed in writing before the work starts.

Documents to collect

Cases of this kind are decided on documents far more often than on speeches. Whichever side you are on, the work of collecting papers is the work that matters.

How long each stage takes

Anyone who gives you a confident date is guessing. What follows is the ordinary range, and where a figure comes from the statute rather than from practice, it says so.

Settlement, mediation and quashing

A large proportion of these cases end in settlement rather than judgment. But there is a step people constantly get wrong, and getting it wrong costs months.

What actually works

1. Mediation Delhi has well-established court-annexed mediation — the Delhi High Court Mediation and Conciliation Centre, mediation centres at each district court complex, and pre-litigation mediation run by the legal services authorities. Matrimonial disputes are among the categories these centres are built for.
2. Written settlement terms Everything agreed is reduced to writing — the money, the timing, the stridhan, the divorce, the withdrawal of the civil proceedings, and who does what by when.
3. The civil side is completed Mutual-consent divorce, withdrawal of the DV Act petition and the maintenance petition, and the actual handing over of whatever was agreed.
4. A joint petition to quash the FIR Because the offence is not compoundable, the criminal case ends only when the High Court quashes it under Section 528 of the BNSS. Both sides appear, the settlement is placed before the court, and the complainant confirms it is voluntary.

The authority for quashing on settlement is the line beginning with Gian Singh v. State of Punjab (2012), where the Supreme Court recognised that offences arising from matrimonial and family disputes are predominantly private in character, and that the High Court's inherent power can properly be used to quash where the parties have genuinely settled and continuing the prosecution would serve no purpose. That reasoning has been applied and refined in the years since.

The decisions that shape these cases

These are the judgments that come up most often. Citations should be verified before they are used in a petition — reported citations for some of these vary between sources.

How Section 85 sits beside other laws

Section 85 rarely travels alone. Understanding what each companion law does — and what it cannot do — saves a great deal of wasted effort.

Frequently asked questions

These are the questions people actually ask, grouped by who is asking. If yours is not here, the answer almost certainly depends on facts that a webpage cannot know.

Related pages

Browse all 21 law pages — search by section number, old or new →