Bangalore: Misuse of dowry law by women a serious concern
Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (EP)
Bangalore, Oct 13: The law prohibiting dowry harassment is meant to protect the woman from torture of her husband and in-laws. Sadly though, the law has been grossly misused repeatedly for vicious motives.
Several dowry harassment cases lodged in the court in the last two years have been quashed in the court for lack of evidence and a good many of them are found to be false, clearly indicating that the law against dowry harassment is being misused by many women and their families against the husbands.
Among the 21,669 dowry harassment cases filed during 2011 to August 2013, as many as 7,220 are found to be false. Of the the remaining 14,449 cases, some are still in the investigation stages, while in some others, the chargesheets yet to be filed.
The police are not sure how many of them will lead to punishment of the guilty. While witnesses have hesitated to give their statements in some cases, there are some which are found to be false in the preliminary stages itself due to lack of evidence.
Significantly, most of the cases are lodged by employees of IT and BT.
The laws that have come into force to safeguard the interests of women and prevent their harassment, are being used by the women to harass men. The Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code is being misused the most, making the men and their families the scapegoats.
State director general of police, Lalrokhuma Pachau has said that it is the duty of the police to lodge a complaint when a person or a woman comes to the police station and complains of injustice.
When it is discovered that the complaint is unfounded, the suspects are released, but it takes years, putting the persons through utmost mental, if not physical agony. In some other instances, even though the complaint looks to be genuine at the onset, police fail to get suitable witnesses and the cases get quashed in the court for inability to prove the guilt.
The responsibility of organizations and the police
The state has seven thousand women's organizations. Four thousand of them are in Bangalore alone. Some organizations wait for such opportunities. If family disputes are taken to them, compromise in the family becomes difficult. A private TV channel recently reported about such organizations. Though a complaint was registered in the police station against them, nothing happened.
Before granting permission to an organization, the departments concerned should verify its credentials. The work done by the organizations in the name of social service should also be scrutinized.
Those who register complaints of dowry harassment normally complain of harassment by the family. The complaint aims to send the entire family of the man to the prison. Such complaints have increased these days.
Supreme Court's concern
The Supreme Court, in fact had expressed concerns over the increasing number of dowry harassment cases in courts across the country and asked the central government to have a re-look on the law dealing with such cases.
The court observed that most of the complaints under Section 498 A of the IPC are filed in the heat of the moment over trivial issues without proper deliberations, filed with oblique motive. At the same time, the court said that a rapid increase in the number of genuine cases of dowry harassment is also a matter of serious concern.