In India ,
there is no greater event in a family than a wedding. In our society, the
bride’s parents are put under extreme pressure to meet groom’s family demand and
to get their daughters married. A dowry is the transfer of parental property to
a daughter during her marriage, rather than at the owner's death. But now dowry
is becoming burdensome for the bride's family. Antidowry laws exist but are
largely ignored and often reporting severe injuries and even death of young
brides. A bride's treatment in her marital home is much affected by the value
of her dowry. Increasingly brides are receiving horrible incidents,
particularly in urban areas, where a groom's family makes excessive demands on
the bride's family--even after marriage.
Consequent to the horrible growth of dowry system, it has
become a part of marriage. In fact, before fixing a marriage or engagement,
dowry is demanded as a precondition. In this extremely commercial world, where
nothing matters other than money, why would I lose my chance of becoming a
Millionaire overnight? After all, we all love shortcuts which make us overnight
rich and this is the one with a sure shot win. This is the common mentality
that everyone should be punishable. There is no fear of being outcast or being
looked down upon. Interventions such as raised social support at the community
level should help to eradicate dowry system.
The practice of dowry is not limited up to the marriage but
it continues even after it which is the cause of various social evils. Dowry is
the main root cause of various social evils such as curse of physical and
mental cruelty on the brides. Considering the ill consequences of dowry and the
high rates of dowry-related crimes in India, Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code was introduced as an
amendment to the Indian Penal Code of 1860 by Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1983.
In the year 2005, a new law – The Domestic Violence Act, 2005 was out that
specified the littlest of aspect that can cause severe mental and/or physical
harassment to a woman.
What is considered to be Dowry? How can you tell that it is
a Dowry Demand?
Any kind of demand made by the groom or his family that
involves a direct or indirect (through a third party) “deal” in relating with
the wedding, is treated as dowry. It can be cash, property, valuable security
or any other favors.
If the bride’s party feels that giving certain things is a
pre-condition for the wedding to take place, and they give it because they
worry the marriage when the groom’s family starts negotiating a ‘lesser deal,’
– that is still dowry. Or after the wedding, if the bride or her family
offering as compensation for marrying their daughter into that family, then
these are dowry demands.
When bride’s parents give their daughter some gifts and
securities during the marriage, the woman is the absolute owner of her Stree
Dhan and the husband and his family have no right to it. If the woman gives her
stree-dhan to her husband and or in-laws for keeping, then they are only
trustees and must return when she asks for it.
When she dies under suspicious circumstances within 7 years
of her marriage, then the property has to be moved to her children or to her
parents if she has no children.
A husband or his family members are pretending to be guilty
till they prove their innocence in the court. The guilty is punishable by a
jail term of up to three years. But the misuse of dowry law has observed in
recent cases, verifies to be true.
A common observation is that women file a case over trivial
fights and just for the sake of extortion towards the families. When these fake
cases are considered without a proper attention the intention with which the
provision was enacted will lose its faith and the presumption of the innocence
of the women under this provision will be doubted, which will eventually be
adverse to the women who are really suffering from torture. Now, if a dowry
harassment case is proved wrong or proved that the law is misused, only Rs
1,000 penalty is slapped. But anti-dowry harassment law amendment provides for
a Rs 15,000 fine.
The process flow of filing the complaint against the dowry
harassment is that the victim can go to the police station nearby and file the
complaint.
The offense is a non-bailable and non-compoundable. To get
the bail, the accused has to be presented in the court in front of the judge.
And by any means the complaint once filed cannot be withdrawn by the person or
her relatives.
Also, it is a cognizable offense. Which means the complaint
can be registered and investigated before making any arrests.
The complaints through National Commission for Women (NSW)
are tackled as:
Investigations by the police are expedited and monitored by
NSW. Family disputes are resolved or compromised through counselling. For
serious crimes, the Commission constitutes an Inquiry Committee which makes
spot inquiries, considers different witnesses, collects evidence and submits
the report with recommendations. These investigations help in bring fast relief
and justice to the victims of violence and atrocities. The implementation of
the report is monitored by the NSW. Also, the State Commission, the NGOs, and
other experts are involved in this exertion. The complaints are examined to
figure out the gaps in the habitual functioning of govt and to suggest corrective
measures.
If you are falsely charged with a case of domestic violence,
the following are the measures you can take when framed or before being framed:
1. Enter into a Prenuptial Agreement (Prenup) before
marriage. A prenup is a declaration saying that neither of the parties has
demanded or given any dowry.
2. Get the prenup duly signed and executed by the parties.
Additionally, two witnesses from each party must sign the Prenup.
3. Make a list of the things parents give their daughter at
the time of the wedding. The girl has a de facto (actual) right on Stridhan. It
includes possessions inherited by the woman from her family or husband’s
family, property received by her under a compromise, adverse possession or in
lieu of maintenance, property obtained in the partition, and the gifts given at
the time of marriage.
Stronger the lawyer, stronger the case. An effective lawyer
will be a master excellence as an expert, which fosters a high level of
commitment to their work. They have the strong understanding about the law. For
getting a bail at the earliest, or making sure that the case gets sorted out as
a settlement between two parties, you need an influential lawyer. At the
particular time it does not matter whether you are right or wrong. All that matters
is how brilliant is your lawyer.
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