Marriage once stood as one of Kashmir’s strongest social institutions. Families built entire lives around it. Parents saved for years, relatives gathered with pride, and communities treated marriage as the beginning of stability and trust. 

Today, many families speak about marriage with fear, calculation and suspicion. That shift needs serious attention.

A growing trend in Kashmir has turned marital breakdown into an economic disaster for many households. The issue demands honesty because silence has deepened the damage. 

Genuine domestic abuse exists and deserves strict punishment under the law. Women facing violence need protection, legal support and swift justice. 

At the same time, false or exaggerated matrimonial cases have become a harsh reality that courts themselves have acknowledged for years.

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The Supreme Court of India addressed this concern directly in Sushil Kumar Sharma vs. Union of India in 2005, describing misuse of Section 498A as “legal terrorism.” 

The court recognized that a law created for protection had, in some cases, become a weapon for harassment. 

Another landmark judgment, Arnesh Kumar vs. State of Bihar in 2014, directed police to avoid automatic arrests in matrimonial disputes and instead conduct proper investigations first. 

The Supreme Court again intervened in Rajesh Sharma vs. State of UP in 2017, calling for verification mechanisms before arrests.

Those rulings came for a reason. 

NCRB figures show that only a small percentage of 498A cases end in conviction. Most collapse........

© Kashmir Observer