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aatma   01 February 2009

NCW blames lawyers and police for misuse of IPC

CJI Balakrishnan admits to misuse of dowry laws
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/CJI_Balakrishnan_admits_to_misuse_of_dowry_laws/articleshow/4057825.cms

CJI Balakrishnan admits to misuse of dowry laws
1 Feb 2009

NEW DELHI: Dealing a blow to women's rights activists who have been stringently defending the Section 498A provision of the Indian Penal Code, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Saturday said that in some cases this section -- that deals with matrimonial cruelty -- was being `grossly misused'.

Elaborating on false cases being filed in recent times, the CJI said that relatives not involved with a matrimonial dispute were unfairly implicated. "In some cases, 498A is grossly misused,'' he said. Balakrishnan was speaking at a seminar, `Marriage laws -- issues and challenges', organised by the National Commission for Women.

The IPC section allows for immediate arrest of the husband and in-laws by the police on the basis of a woman's complaint and has been controversial. Several pro-male organisations have been protesting against the section saying that the law is being misused by women for selfish gains and should include a penalty provision against its misuse. But women activists have been lobbying for no change in the law.

Faced with adverse comments from the CJI, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Girija Vyas said that it was lack of awareness that led to false cases under 498A. "I would not like to use the term misuse. There is lack of awareness amongst people that is exploited by lawyers and police. We feel there is no need to review the law,'' Vyas said.

CJI Balakrishnan added that it was because of cases of misuse that the recent amendments in the Criminal Procedure Code had been enacted by Parliament. He, however, added that while the amendments were acceptable they should have been discussed threadbare in Parliament before being passed. "The amendments are good. They have given relief to those arrested on false accusations. The police has to give reasons before they arrest anyone. Unfortunately, Parliament passed the legislation without discussion,'' Balakrishnan added.

Commenting on the CrPC amendments, Vyas said that there had been demands from NGOs that the law be reviewed and the Commission was examining the matter.




Learning

 17 Replies

N.K.Assumi (Advocate)     01 February 2009

we can not blame police and lawyers alone, inasmuch as it is the bounden duty of the Magistrates to see that the accused is remanded to police or judicial custody on grounds of possible primafacie evidence against the accused. Here, Magistrates remanding the accused to judicial custody has termendous role to play to see that the section is not misused, and that the  Magistrates is not to passed mechanical order of remand.

PALNITKAR V.V. (Lawyer)     01 February 2009

Mr. Assumi is right. But there are instances that sec. 498A is used to harass the husband and in laws. The courts have to analyse the allegations and try to find out whether the case is really strong enough to remand the accused either to police or judicial custody.

aatma   06 February 2009

I agree with you Sirs.   But the recent observation of the SC shows the poor situation of the  Magistrate courts in Criminal Justice.


Criminal justice system has collapsed: SC


6 Feb 2009


 

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Thursday sounded the grim warning that the criminal justice system had been subverted, with witnesses being manipulated and trials being hijacked with judges and lawyers remaining "handicapped witnesses".



Making the chilling observation, which to many only confirmed the widely held perception of the erosion of the system, a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal, G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam also said that the lower judiciary had decayed.



"The courts of magistrate and munsif have ceased to be an option for the common man,"
the Bench said and compared the lower courts to ill-equipped and ill-staffed public health centres (PHCs) in rural areas.

"Only those people go there who have no other option," said the Bench as an apparent indicator of the low measure of public faith in these courts, which are the first points of dispute settlement for the masses.

 

kumar (prop)     20 September 2009

we r not concerned abt the blames excpt that innocent lives r wasted  and harrassed.

chaithanya (Software Engineer)     06 November 2009

 

hi, i am from hyderabad india working in USA. i got married in Aug-008 in hyderabad. recently my parents, younger brother and I became the victims of 498a. i caught my wife cheating on me so i filed annulment in Feb-2009 in hyderabad and after ew months my wife filed false 498a in Aug-2009. She did not sign the FIR. i heard FIR must be signed otherwise it is not valid. right now we all r on anticipatory bail. we have recently filed 498a quash in high court of AP. can someone please tell me whether we can quash 498a on the following grounds:
1. FIR – not signed
2. Annulment was filed in Feb-2009 and 498a was filed in Aug-2009.

i came to india in jan-2009, dropped her at her home (with her parents), filed for annulment in the family court in hyderabad and left to USA in Feb-2009. since then i did not contact her and she is living with her parents.

please help me and kindly send me 498a quash judgements if you have any on the above grounds. this wud be a great help. thank you so much for you time. please help us. my email id is chaithu45656@yahoo.com

Sanjeev Kuchhal (Publishers)     07 November 2009

Section 154(1) of Cr.P.C. requires that the F.I.R. has to be signed by the informant. Section 154(1) of Cr.P.C. reads as under :

"Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be reduced to writing by him or under his direction, and be read over to the informants and every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf."

Regarding filing of your case in Feb'09, it is good arguable point the the subsequent case has been filed as a counter-blast.

 

Feroz M Shafeeque (Police Officer)     07 November 2009

If the complainant submitted the complaint before court through CMP or 190 CrPC, the same will be send by the magistrate to the Police Station to register and investigate the case u/s 156(3) of CrPC.

 

In such cases, the SHO will register the case based on the CMP sent from court and there is no need for signature of complainant in FIR.

 

Also if the statement of the complainant was recorded from other places(like hospital) only the FI statement needs signature. Officer-in-charge of PS will register FIR based on the statement and signature of complainant is not needed.

 

If the complaint was given directly to the officer in charge of the PS, the signature or thump impression of the complainant is a must in both FI statement and FIR. In such cases where no signature is there in FIR, accused can challenge the sanctity of the FIR as a manipulated one by Police even if the complainant stands with the contents of the FIS.

 

Kamal Grover (Advocate High Court Chandigarh M:09814110005 email:adv.kamal.grover@gmail.com)     07 November 2009

Dear Chaithanya,

Ur FIR cannot be quashed on the ground mentioned above, but send the copy of FIR then may suggest the right way.

Regards

adv.kamal.grover@gmail.com

Kamal Grover (Advocate High Court Chandigarh M:09814110005 email:adv.kamal.grover@gmail.com)     07 November 2009

AAtma ji, it is a good step for guys.

Thanks for updating

chaithanya (Software Engineer)     08 November 2009

I got married in Aug-2008 in Hyderabad. Ours is an arranged marriage  (hindu marriage) and she is a house wife. most imp. thing is our marriage was never consummated.  She never allowed me and she always used to say that she has some kind of pain in her private parts. I took her to doctor and marriage counselor where she said she has pain and she cannot do that… I have also got the reports from the doctor and marriage counselor stating the same. She used to shout on me in US. She made my parents, brother n my life a hell to live. I lost my previous job as I could not take all these. Now she tells every one that our marriage was consummated.

My wife has an affair with her bachelor's classmate. i caught her cheating on me. i have downloaded a software which records all the activities done on my Laptop/computer. her boy friend works for Wipro and she created a fake yahoo email ID and used to communicate with him on his wipro email ID. i have all the evidence showing their intolerable and nasty conversations which were automatically saved on my computer and it is a genuine software. she used to do all this when i go to work. but i dont know whether our indian family courts accepts this as evidence? can i request wipro to provide me these converstions/emails?
 
About 498a FIR: she said in complaint that we all are harassing her by asking dowry. She also mentioned in the FIR that her parents gave me dowry of Rs. 8lacs cash, Gold ornaments and a plot - which is completely false. neither we received anything nor we asked her any dowry. she also mentioned in the FIR that now we are asking for another FLAT and beating her daily and we don’t accept her until she (her parents) buys us a flat it seems – this is what the FIR says which is completely false. She is misusing the law. i got married in late Aug-2008 and came to US with her in early Sep-2008. after i realised her she is cheating on me, i took her to india in late Jan-2009 and dropped off her at her parents house (directly from airport). i filed annulment in early Feb-2009 and came back to US. i never contacted her even though she tried to contact me. We had a meeting with her family and few mediators. Where she accepted all her faults about her extra marital affair but I did not record any of our conversations and in the FIR she said that there were no meetings held.
 
Our family is going thru so many problems because of her (and her parents who support and encourage her all the time even though ev.thing is her mistake). I came from a well respected family and now all our good-will and reputation is gone). For some reason all my friends/relatives are not supporting us as they are scared of this 498a assuming that my wife may file false complain on them as well.  So we are not interested in giving them any money or accepting her. One thing is sure, her parents don’t have proper income and I don’t think they ever paid any income tax and I am sure they cannot show huge amounts in their bank statements. What I am saying here is they cannot provide proper evidence to support their false cases filed against me, my brother and parents.
 
They did not give us any money. after coming to US…she kept insisting me to send her brother money for his Bday parties etc… I sent $100 only once and I have the receipt.
 
We have already filed 498a quash in the high court…just asking for stay of arrest for me and my younger brother. Now we are planning add “stay of 498a” to 498a quash complaint on the following grounds – (a) FIR not being signed by my wife (b) FIR / 498a was filed in July-2009 which is 5 months after filing annulment in Feb-2009 – she was not staying at all with me or with my parents who live in India. Her house is about 2kms from my house in India.
 
She says she is never going to give me divorce as she wants to live with me. This is my story.

chaithanya (Software Engineer)     08 November 2009

Thank you very much Sanjeev Kuchhal, Feroz M Shafeeque and Kamal Grover for your wonderful support and responses.

Hardik Mehta (Family Counsellor)     24 November 2009

Chaitanya,

This is common. Instead of filing for quash, file the DP3 case against them, based on their FIR that they have admitted to have given dowry, when I have not asked any such things. This will turn the tables.

 

R.K.SUNDERRAJ (LAWYER HUBLI,KARNATAKA)     05 December 2009

I agree with Hardik Metha

chaithanya (Software Engineer)     06 December 2009

thank u all for the replies. If i file DP3 does nt it mean that i have accepted the dowry... i have not taken any dowry so i am just thinking if i file DP3 then it means that i have taken dowry??? can some one please explain what is be the use of filing DP3... i mean does it do any justice to me...??? is it worth to do that? thanks. please repy. chaithu45656@yahoo.com


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