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aatma   28 November 2010

Final Chance to Innocent Indian Husbands

COMMITTEE ON PETITIONS

Petition praying for amendments in Section 498A of IPC

**********

The Committee on Petitions of the Rajya Sabha, under the Chairmanship of Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Member, Rajya Sabha, is considering a petition praying for amendments in Section 498A of Indian Penal Code, 1860. The petitioner in his petition has pointed out the extensive abuse and misuse of this provision of the Penal Code. According to the petitioner, the abused population undergoes tremendous harassment and torture. As these provisions of the penal code presently go, a complaint without much authenticity or any weight of evidence is enough to arrest the husband or the in-laws or anyone else named in the complaint, irrespective of whether any crime has taken place or not. The petitioner, accordingly, has prayed for suitable modification in section 498A of Penal Code so as to check its abuse and protect the interest of innocent persons.

2. The petition is available on the Rajya Sabha's website (www.rajyasabha.nic.in) under the link: Committees → Standing Committees → Committee on Petitions → Petitions with the Committee.

3. The Committee has decided to undertake consultations with a wide cross-section of the society and invites written memoranda thereon. Those desirous of submitting memoranda to the Committee may send two copies (each in English and Hindi) thereof to Shri Rakesh Naithani, Joint Director, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi – 110 001 (Tel: 011-23035433(O), 23794328 (Telefax) and E-mail: rsc2pet@sansad.nic.in) latest by 30th December, 2010.

4. Comments/suggestions, etc. submitted to the Committee would form part of its record and would be treated as confidential. Any violation in this regard may attract breach of privilege of the Committee.

5. Those who are willing to appear before the Committee besides submitting written comments/suggestions may indicate so. However, the Committee’s decision in this regard shall be final.

**********

To:

The Council of States (Rajya Sabha)

The petition of Dr. Anupama Singh a medical doctor and a resident of Hauz Khas, New Delhi.

Sheweth,

1. That Section 498A was inserted in Indian Penal Code in 1983 to protect married Indian women from cruelty, including dowry harassment. The offence under this section is cognizable, non-bailable, non-compoundable with provision to lodge a complaint against the husband or any relative of the husband of the women.

The section reads as hereunder:-


“Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such women to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.”

2. That Section 498A of Indian Penal Code is being fearlessly abused and misused by a large section of unscrupulous people, who are using law as a weapon for ulterior motives.

3. That the abused population is undergoing tremendous harassment and torture, which includes atrocities inflicted on senior citizens, children, women (including pregnant women) and men.

4. That there is an urgent need to address the issue of abuse of this law as inter alia the ramifications of its abuse are far more damaging then the law makers had ever conceived:

(a) This law is being misused rampantly by unprincipled people. And given the time tested benefits it has reaped for them, its abuse is now widespread. Infact the gravity of the situation can be assessed from the fact that there are several cases of dowry death wherein the supposedly ‘dead victims’ have come back alive, and several cases where the same women has repeatedly alleged charges under this law in each of her repeat marriages;

(b) This law is being misused by women to enable a get-rich-quick-scheme to extort large amounts of money from innocent families. Women, their parents an instigators have used this law to extend threats and hold innocent families to ransom, thereby pressurizing them to accede to unjustified demands;

(c)
This law is being misused by women to alienate the husband from his parents and siblings, so as to gain control over his finances and social behavior including his lifestyle. Growing instances of abusive behaviors towards elderlies in families, including parents and senior citizens, are another ramification of its abuse;

(d) This law is also rampantly misused by those brides and her parents who conceal true facts about her mental health and educational level at the time of marriage, thereby adopting fraudulent means to forge the alliance. When these facts are unearthed by the groom and his family, the bride and her family prefer to take recourse to Section 498A of IPC.

(e) This law is being misused as a bargaining tool by those women who indulge in Adultery. When their nefarious acts are exposed they take recourse to misusing this law, thereby deflecting the needle of crime on innocent husband and his family. This law being an exception in Criminal Law presumes the accused as guilty until proven innocent; hence the women’s word is taken as a gospel of truth. And therefrom begins the saga of unending trials, tribulations and destruction for an innocent man and his family;

(f) The law is being misused to enable divorce so as to revive any pre-marital relationship that the wife may have had as she may have unwillingly given her consent for marriage to satisfy her parents;

(g) The law is being misused to deny custody of child/children to the father and his family. Infact several cases abound where children have been wrongfully deprived of fatherly care and affection through such indiscriminate, rampant misuse of this law;

(h) This law is being misused to inflict sufferings on husband and his family to settle scores and to wreak vengeance, thereby posing a grave threat to the very existence of a peaceful family unit in society. Law is to protect, not to destruct. Law is as much for protecting the innocent as it is to punish the guilty; and

(i) The language, content and structure of this law has enabled implication of thousands of innocent families in false cases. A complaint, without any authenticity and without any weight of evidence, is enough to arrest the husband, in-laws and anyone else name in the complaint, irrespective of whether a crime occurred or not. This has led to arrest of lakhs innocent citizens (thousands of families), with many committing suicide as they are unable to bear the indelible stigma on their honor and reputation.

5. That the following statistics corroborate the above contention of the petitioner:

5,01,020 people arrested under Section 498A of IPC;
2,94,147 people completed trial under Section 498A of IPC; and
58,842 people convicted (out of his many must have appealed to higher courts)
Source: NCRB (2003-2006), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

6. That misuse of Section 498A of IPC has been acknowledged/condemned by leading authorities;

(a) The Supreme Court of India in Sushil Kumar Sharma vs. U.O.I (2005) said that any misuse of this provision of law amounts to unleashing Legal Terrorism. It acknowledged that there are growing instances of women filing false charge.

(b) The World Health Organization (WHO), in its Report of India clearly cited Section 498A as one of the major reasons for growing Elder Abuse in India.

(c) The Law Commission in its 154th Report, the Malimath Committee Report (on Reforms of Criminal Justice System, 2003) and the 111th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, have all acknowledged that Section 498A is being widely misused;

(d) The Center for Social Research (India), in a study on implications of Section 498A IPC state that “educated and independent minded women misuse the section”.

7. That there is no remedy/provision in this law:

(a) for punishment to people who misuse and abuse this law;

(b) for people who are proved innocent after being falsely implicated under this law;

(c) for the indelible stigma that falsely accused people are forced to live with for the rest of their lives;

(d) for the immense financial, social and personal loss borne by the falsely accused;

(e) for resurrecting the lives of falsely accused and maligned people;

(f) for discouraging people from filing false cases.

(g) for punishment to guilty and corrupt law enforcement agencies who connive and collude with complainants to harass and torture and falsely accused;

(h) for preventing the media from maligning and defaming the falsely accused innocents; and

(i) for citizens to file complaints against women who inflict cruelties and atrocities on them and their family members.

8. That the Supreme Court of India in Sushil Kumar Sharma vs. U.O.I & others (JT 2005 (6) SC 266) clearly said that it is for the legislature to find ways on how to deal with misuses of this law as well as on how to wipe out the ignominies suffered during and after the trial by the falsely accused.

9. That the petitioner therefore prays for remedy to mitigate the sufferings of lakhs of Indian citizens, who through this law, have been unceremoniously exposed to the whims and fancies of corrupt, immoral unprincipled section of society, who for their own personal agendas do not hesitate in committing the worst possible crime under law, which is Misuse of Law. It is therefore prayed:

(a) that Section 498A be suitably amended so as to make it bailable, non-cognizable, and compoundable;

(b) that suitable provisions be specifically inserted in Section 498A so as to make it punishable for whosoever misuses of abuses it;

(c) that the misuser of this law should be made liable to compensate the financial loss suffered by the falsely accused in the process;

(d) that the law be made gender neutrall of protect the interests of any innocent, be it a man or a women; and

(e) that time bound trial should be make a statutory requirement under this law, with a 6 month maximum limit specified therein.

Name of Petitioner

Dr. Anupama Singh
D-40, Hauz Khas,
New Delhi-110 016
Sd/-



Learning

 9 Replies

VictimOfBiasLaw (Professional)     28 November 2010

How much time it wil take for amendment ?

will this amendment applicable to existing false DV cases ?

Jamai Of Law (propra)     28 November 2010

It is outrageous to ask for amendment (a) as....

 

 

(a) that Section 498A be suitably amended so as to make it bailable, non-cognizable, and compoundable;

 

Then make every damn thing as bailable, non-cognizable, and compoundable.

Then why to arrest even murder/rape suspects? Doesn't that defame them?

 

 

Instead of asking to plug/tighten the loopholes and corruption in the system...you are demanding "free walkout" as "a right of the suspects".

 

 

Any arrest is made (for murder, rape, 498a, robbery, cheating, contempt etc) only and only for the sake of investigation and nothing else.....If it is done for any other purpose then who has stopped others to prove it that way....

 

 

Some people do prove it and police officials/other govt officials do get suspended...there is already provisions in the law for that.....

 

 

One can't just "cry" that the "very process" of the whole investigation and trial is like an "ordeal". It the same for each and every type of investigation....and other categories stand first in the queue if somebody is to find "concessions" to suspects owing to "lengthy nature" of the process.....

 

even murder/rape suspects have relatives, father, mother............what about their reputation!!!!

 

 

If govt gives concessions to only 498a suspects...every suspect in every walk of "punishable act" would cry to get this concession......which would be unavoidable NOT TO GIVE it to all those.

 

 

498a is just one of the type of crimes against women.

 

 

When a wife takes such an extreme step to file a case against husband which inadvertantly going to crush her matrimonial life beyond repair.....there can't be smoke without fire....but more often than not culprits walk out without conviction!!!!

 

1 Like

Arup (UNEMPLOYED)     28 November 2010

" there can't be smoke without fire" - it is applicable for husband side also.

" Then make every damn thing as bailable, non-cognizable, and compoundable."

- which are these damn things?

2 Like

Arup (UNEMPLOYED)     28 November 2010

" this is a prayer only"

- this is in prayer stage now.

- LONG TO RUN BEFORE YOU SLEEP.

1 Like

Arup (UNEMPLOYED)     28 November 2010

SORRY.

" How much time it wil take for amendment ? will this amendment applicable to existing false DV cases ?"


 -  this is a prayer only'

 -  this is in prayer stage now.

  - LONG TO RUN BEFORE YOU SLEEP.

1 Like

Arup (UNEMPLOYED)     28 November 2010

"  498a is just one of the type of crimes against women."

 - FALSE  498a is just ANOTHER type of crimes against men.

3 Like

Renuka Gupta ( Gender Researcher )     28 November 2010

 

Inaugurating the “Legal aid clinic for the victims of domestic violence”, of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority at the Women Lawyers Association here, he said the provisions in the law were progressive.

 

 

Referring to the apprehension that there could be misuse of the provisions of the legislation, Mr. Justice Kabir said it was his personal view that

 

no law was an exception to misuse. That had become a tendency. That did not mean the law should not be in place.

 

The same applies to the petition for amendments of section 498 A of IPC.

 

Avnish Kaur (Consultant)     28 November 2010

this law shud have two sections

one where physical assault in form of  SEVERE griveous physical hurt /MURDER / DEATH BY BURNING by respondent has taken place and there is supportive evidence then it shud be cognisable and non bailable.

I recently saw a case where a girl cut her veins herself and alleged boys family members did it.

second section where there is no griveous physical hurt has taken place and there are allegations of this nature, then it shud be non cognisable and bailable.

power to arrest or not arrest civilian families in our corrupt system is a dangerous tool. such excesses lead to rise of TERRORISM.

WHEN EXCESSES (LEGAL TERRORISM) CROSS A LIMIT IT LEADS TO RISE OF  TERRORISM AND AN OVERTHROWING OF SUCH CORRUPT TERRORIST SYTEM BECOMES NECESSARY BY ALL MEANS. EITHER LAW SHUD BE AMENDEED OR SUCH CORRUPT LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM IS NOT NEEDED. ALL POLITICAL PARTIES HAIVING ONE COMMON AGENDA (EARLIER HIDDEN AGENDA NOW OPEN AGENDA)  TO LOOT  PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY. THEY GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH SUFFERINGS OF COMMON PEOPLE (ROME BURNING AND NERO SINGING ).

 A LIMIT IS REACHING WHERE THIS MAY BE NECESSARY SOON WITH GOVT OF INDIA SAYING THERE IS NO CLEAN OFFICER IN INDIA.

3 Like

Arup (UNEMPLOYED)     28 November 2010

498A; DV ACT NOT AVAILABLE TO A MALE?

WHY MALE CAN NOT COMPLAIN UNDER THESE ACTS?

WHEN MALES WILL BE ALLOWED TO COMPLAIN UNDER THIS ACT, THEN THESE ACTS WILL BE BIAS- LESS- NESS.

2 Like

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