Study Report on Misuse of Dowry Law by Indian Women

Truth About IPc 498A

This is a Report based on 5 years Research and Study on dowry Prohibition act, its use and misuse.This Reasearch conducted by our own Experts of MyNation for Save Indian society,and not funded by any gender biased organisations. We studied 1500 Plus Families, these are feed backs from them and from the reports published by media.

What is IPC-498a?

Cognizable – The accused can be arrested and jailed without warrant or investigation
Non-Bailable – The accused must appear in the court to request bail
Non-Compoundable – The complaint cannot be withdrawn by the petitioner

The accused are guilty with women one word, and the burden is on the accused to prove innocence in the courts.

When an FIR under IPC section 498A (498a) is registered, the accused are automatically arrested and jailed without investigation. The Supreme Court of India has ruled several times that arrest should be an exception, and not a compulsory. Why is there no penalty for disobeying the Supreme Court’s orders? Is it not mental cruelty to subject a person to arrest without investigation or reasonable cause?

As per our Study, we found out that, it is custom in india to give support to bride in the form of gold and valuables to support her future life with her husband, as husband take home his wifes Fathers burdon, as family of girl call themself.
as long as there are no Problems/cracks in marriage, all goes smoothly.As it is there are problems in every marriage, and olden days women used to manage these silly things in her marriage, but todays modern women is not ready to compromise even pretty issues.

Shoba [Name Changed] says, "Dowry is not an issue, ours was love arranged marriage, I know my father's capacity, and how much he can give, and after marriage there is not chance taking any money, so I only told my Husband what he can take. We are happy with that, it helped us to build our Family. We should not take Stridhan as dowry."

"When we get married, to make new house, start family we need money, from girl side her father should provide to start family, and man should not demand more than what girls family offer," says Priya [Name changed].

We are not talking about the dowry deaths or physical injury cases but about dowry harassment cases that require no evidence and can be filed just based on a single word, complaint by the wife. With an estimated 50,000 such accusations per year and an average of 3 members of the husband’s family implicated in each of these 498a cases, about 150,000 people are directly affected by these false accusations.

Latest Statistics Published on IBN-CNN.

*In 2004, 58,319 dowry cases were registered
*1,34,757 men were arrested
*47,828 cases have reached the chargesheet stage
*10,491 dowry cases were not chargesheeted as they were based on frivolous ground.
*However, 5,739 men have been convicted but more than four times that number have been acquitted (24,127)

The controversial section not only covers dowry, but a wide spectrum of incidents including cruelty, causing injury and danger to mental or physical health. [Source: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/tortured-hubbies-victims-of-498a/27446-3.html]

As of June 30, 2005 those under sections 498 and 498(A): in the first six months this year, 3801 new cases under just these two sections were instituted.

Thanks to the awareness levels among women, many more are approaching the courts today than before. Consider this against the number of cases that are disposed. They are only 2432 cases. Of them, only 164 cases led to convictions. 1449 cases ended in acquittal with the aggrieved women considering further appeals. [Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/full_story.php?content_id=79802]

This poorly formulated law is inviting unscrupulous women to file false cases, and causing the imprisonment of innocent husband and his Family without investigation. These innocent people undergo stigmatization and hardship even before a trial in the court of law which leads to emotional, physical and financial burdon. Some of the falsely accused have committed suicide after being jailed, unable to bear the social consequences.

Result of False Accusation:

As per Recent Report From Ahmedabad, Rajesh Hasmukh Desai commited suicide. He was charged with 498A falsly. If a woman dies in any circumtenses, Authority by default Police will arrest man, but in this case police did not took any action nor they questioned his wife, nor took any action.

A study by Professor K. Nagaraj, senior economist at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS): The distribution of suicides by marital status reveals some interesting patterns. The rates do not vary much between the sexes for the never-married. Among those currently married, while the rate for males is about 17 per 100,000 persons, the rate for females is 11.4 per 100,000. Among those widowed, while the rate for males is 21 per 100,000 persons, the rate for females is also significantly lower, at 6.6 per 100,000. However, among divorced males the suicide rate is 164 per 100,000 persons, but even in this class, among females the rate is only 63 per 100,000. W hile the suicide rate for separated men is about 167, for females it is only 41 per 100,000 persons. [Source: http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1821/18210960.htm]

Despite the recommendations of the Supreme Court of India and Justice Malimath Committee that the legislative arm should modify the laws such that the innocent are protected, the suggested amendment to the law has been largely ignored. Unconstrained, this social evil is threating the foundaton of the Indian Family system.

Why do people misuse IPC 498a?

Legal Extortion – When marriage is on the brink of Divorce, she find no other weapon to harass husband than 498A.

Pre/extra-marital Affairs – She marries to satisfy her parents, without disclosing her past, when husband find out she has no option than file dowry case to blackmail him, same applies to extra marital affairs too.

Domination – Wife wants the husband to abandon his parents and siblings, and have total control over his finances and social behavior, including his life-style.

Custody - Deny the father and his family access to their child(ren).

Fraudulent Marriages - Many time girls family will not disclose actual facts of their daughter, which leads to divorce, then legal extortion follows.

In-Laws - When modern woman is unable to adjust with her In-Laws, to dominate her husband and make him dance as she says she goes for dowry case.

Consider a person who works extremely hard to make his career. Then he marry a wolf who drags him to court. There he is bound to lose all dignity, children custody and above all 50% of his income. He is forced out of family, money and all. Using his money all along, the wolf teaches to the child that father was bad, despite feeding the child on Fathers' money. He has nothing to look at when he grows old. And Indian judicial system is just not meant for any justice.

"This is nothing but sure cruelty. Extreme disaster, and unending mental trauma. Apart from this I've seen men bieng ditched by various girls before marriage. In cities it is common that girl have many boyfriends. And they choose the richest among them for marriage. Rest are ditched. And a few weaker among them commit suicide.", says Amit Agarwal, a Victim of 498A.

Nearly five crore married women in India are victims of domestic violence (DV). Only 0.1 percent (1 out of 1000 DV cases) of these are being reported. Out of 100 cases that are ordered for investigation under 498A, only in 2 cases the accused get convicted.

"People generally use this law to facilitate a divorce. And often, it's the lawyers who advise the women to implicate their in-laws under the provisions of this Act," says Shantosh Singh, chairperson of Women Welfare Counseling Cell. Often, the number of items given in dowry is inflated to claim a high settlement amount. "There are only 10 per cent cases based on truth, and people usually come to us and ask specifically to mention the element of dowry in their divorce petitions," says Amrikh Singh Kalra, advocate at Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Women mis(using) laws to get even?

NEW DELHI, Oct 18 (PTI) —Laws against violence at home may or may not have come to the rescue of battered women, but some of them have been accused of abusing them to get an easy divorce or settle other little domestic disputes. Souce: http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99oct19/nation.htm#7]

According to the available statistical information from the National Crime Records Bureau and information available from NGOs working with victims of violence, there is a general tendency to avoid seeking redressal among the victims of domestic violence. However, when a victim of domestic violence seeks help from any of the agencies, be it family, friends, NGOs, or lawyers, before registering a complaint, at each stage she is asked to reconcile the matter or to put up with the situation. Reconciliation in 498A cases takes place at every stage including the police station, Crime Against Women Cells and courts.

We found that in five cases filed under Section 498A the parties settled the matter after agreeing on maintenance and divorce.

In a majority of the cases before a victim filed the complaint under Section 498A, the minimum period she suffered physical and mental torture, was for about three years.

The trial process is quite lengthy and the proportion of pending cases is quiet high (out of the 40 cases based on victims' interviews which went for trial in court, 28 cases are still pending). In the cases tracked, the normal trial period was between five to ten years.

It was found that it was difficult to prove physical and mental torture. In all the eight cases in which the accused were acquitted, the victims were found to have suffered physical and mental torture, but as there was not enough evidence to prove torture, the accused were let off.

The cases where the accused were convicted had been filed under Section 498A along with section 304B and 302, which are applicable after the death of the victim. There were no convictions in any of the cases registered only under Section 498A.

It has been found that out of 30 cases there is not a single case where the accused has been convicted only under Section 498A. The accused have been acquitted (11 cases) by the court where the prosecutor failed to provide evidentiary proof of cruelty, mainly mental, inflicted on the victim as provided under Section 498A IPC.

The judicial authorities of India, in number of landmark judgments, have taken a serious view of the growing tendency to falsely implicate innocent members of the husband’s family in dowry cases. Describing misuse of IPC-498a law as “legal terrorism”, the Supreme Court said no one could be allowed to unleash frivolous proceedings on this count as the provisions of Section 498a “is intended to be used a shield not as an assassin’s weapon.

“The stringent dowry laws, meant to deter dowry-seekers, are being increasingly misused by the very people they are meant to protect. The last three years have seen a steep rise in the number of cases of harassment for dowry”.
[Source: http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=170603]

Only one out of six dowry complaints genuine [Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20041013/cth1.htm#4]

Most of the time it's a burgaining tool for women when husband finds her infidelity. Adulterous women were responsible for divorces in every 3rd case.
[Source http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1551427,000600010004.htm]

There are many heart-rending stories of innocent families being arrested without investigation and put in judicial custody. While IPC 498a is supposed to be a law to protect women, ironically it harms many more women. For every male accused of IPC 498a, there is at least one woman (his mother or sister) who is implicated in a crime that never occurred or they never stayed together. If there are more women in the family they too are accused irrespective of their age, health condition, marital status or their physical proximity to the complainant. There are many Reports, married sisters of husband,even they are pregnent or with small baby in hands are jailed without any investigations.or The entire family is ruthlessly arrested without investigation and there are no words to describe the financial hardship and emotional trauma that they have to endure. Children suffer whether they are jailed along with their mothers or are separated from them during that time.

Another striking feature of these victim stories is that the complainants, in collaboration with the police make sure that the arrests are strategically planned to harass and demoralize the accused, to make them succumb to the fear of being imprisoned and to extract huge amounts of money thereafter.

Here is list of few Victims are harassed for many years, without rays of hope to get Justice: http://mynation.net/db

Everyone knows there are loopholes in 498A, and media reports, Judges warn and Politicians admit openly.

An offence has been committed by the accused upon the sole testimony of the woman alleging abuse. Given that lying in court has never been taken seriously enough to invoke punishment, laws which presume guilt even before the trial has begun are prone to great misuse.

"98% misuse is OK Says Minister Renuka Chowdrey:
[Source: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/ill-empower-women-chowdhury/26051-3-0.html]

Even there is 98% misuse, why not there is any Change....?

Because it is not only against husband but his whole Family. The Western funded Supporter of this law, determined to ruin family system of India and sabotage Indian Society.

For: MyNation.net