The Supreme Court of India has rendered some startling decisions in the case of X v. State of Telangana & Others. According to Justices B. Nagarathna and Kotiswar Singh, women are increasingly abusing Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which is meant to shield them from cruelty in marriage, by using it as a means of pursuing personal grudges against their spouses and in-laws. Although the judges made it clear that women who have experienced mistreatment shouldn't keep quiet, their comments run the risk of reinforcing negative perceptions about women abusing the legal system.

In the aforementioned case, a woman accused dowry harassment under the Dowry Prohibition Act and cruelty under Section 498A in her February 2022 FIR. In addition to her spouse, the accused also named six members of his family. According to established legal procedures, the High Court limited arrests until the charge sheet was produced, even though it denied the husband's request to have the FIR quashed (Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar). But because she made nebulous and unsupported claims, the Supreme Court dismissed the FIR against the husband and in-laws.