Rampant Misuse of Anti-Dowry Laws Giving Jitters to Non-Resident Indians

Source : DailyIndia.com February 3, 2007

By Ravindra Sheoran

New Delhi, Feb.3 (ANI): Contrary to the routine news about harassment of women by in-laws over dowry, many cases related to men being subjected to harassment by women too are becoming commonplace, especially among the non-resident Indians.

There are a rising number of cases, especially among non-resident Indians, where individuals are paying a heavy cost due to the gross misuse of the existing anti-dowry law by women or their relatives.

Many women, who marry non-resident Indians (NRIs) use the existing dowry to keep their husbands on their toes due to the advantage enjoyed by women in dowry cases under law.

According to data provided by Ministry of Home Affairs, there were 58,319 registered cases and 134,757 people underwent arrest under 498a and b and Dowry Prohibition Act.

That is on average 2.3 people were arrested in every complaint of woman. There were 358 children and 4,744 senior citizens arrested.

Out of 129,655 cases, approximately 18 per cent (23,337) were not chargesheeted and hence suffered only because these acts are non-bailable.

Non-resident Indians continue to be the biggest victims of such dodgy women, mainly because of their soft side that makes it too difficult to return to India to present their side of the story in most of the dowry cases.

The three hundred red-corner notices issued last year, against non-resident Indians under this law, state the grim situation. Twenty-seven of these individuals have even received extradition notices.

A few social organisations have taken up such cases on behalf of harassed husbands.

"We want the government to revisit the laws to observe how much poorly drafted or badly implemented they are. We want them to amend the law, not scrap it. We are not for the people who demand dowry or who are for cruelty in any relation. Dowry seeker should be punished. But we want the law to remain equal for all irrespective of gender," said Dr Anupama Singh, Co-ordinator 498a.org, an anti Dowry Law organisation of people from India.

Meanwhile, the Government of India is also keeping an eye on such issues.

"What I suggest is we decided to sign the Hague convention which will carry private international law. That law can be used after the discussions with the countries so its arm can reach to this type of cases, which we are working out, "said Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vyalar Ravi.

According to Section 498A of Indian Penal Code, "whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine."

This section is non-bailable, non-compoundable (complaint can't be quashed) and cognizable (arrests without investigation or warrants) on a report from a woman or close relative.

This law makes it mandatory for the police to file charges against the husband, his parents and other relatives/friends (whoever being named on the complaint by the wife or her close relatives) and put them in jail. There is no penalty (even a fine) for filing a false case.

Many individuals have claimed the wife or her close relatives are abusing this. (ANI)

Human Rights first preference, what about misuse of 498a

'First claim': Cong shifts gearBhaskar Roy[ 31 Jan, 2007 2308hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ] : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/First_claim_Cong_shifts_gear/articleshow/1547925.cms

NEW DELHI: Making use of the international satyagraha conference and its broad humanitarian canvas, the Congress has done an important course correction.

Summing up the declaration of the conference, the party on Wednesday said "basic human rights demands have the first claim on our resources."

The statement made by party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan acquires immense political significance as it seems to have set right the ruling establishment's priorities, as far as distribution of national resources is concerned.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks at the National Development Council meeting in December that minorities "must have the first claim on resources" had fuelled a major controversy provoking sharp reactions from the Opposition BJP.

The issue had generated an in-house debate within the Congress with party strategists sizing up the possibility of its misuse by political rivals in the season of elections in a number of states.

There was a fear that its opponents, particularly the BJP, might present the statement in a distorted manner to undermine the party's support among Hindus.

Using the ambience of Gandhian values and the Mahatma's humanitarian appeal, the party sought to stand corrected as far as the controversy over the PM's statement was concerned.

The shift from "minorities, particularly the Muslim minority" to "basic human rights demands" marked a lot of political distance.

Apprehensive of any impression that the regime was on a nostalgic journey to socialism and anti-West posturing of the Cold War era, Congress sought to clarify its position.

Natarajan denounced the 9/11 terrorist attacks as the "most ignoble event of the 21st century."

The need for correction seemed to have been prompted by the objection made by some delegates from Europe. A German delegate had objected when panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar termed the terrorist attack on New York as an example of "asymmetric war" during a discussion on nuclear disarmament.

Seeking a point of order, the delegate wondered whether the minister's observation amounted to condoning the events of 9/11.

Congress, therefore, lost no time in stressing that the Mahatma's satyagraha in 1906 and the Osama bin Laden-inspired devastation of the Twin Towers sharing the same date — 9/11, almost a century apart — was "a most ironic coincidence of history."