[Commons-Law] Re: Yes 498a is really getting more and more misused

[protima pandey]

Satyamev, VRaj, Peter...
>  
> 
>
> 
> 1) I wish you could use your judgement to understand
> if that laws like 498a and DV need ammendments,
> there are a plenty of people who mis-use it. With
> every 498a (filed by wife or her relative) there are
> other women (mother-in-law, sister-in-law) who go
> through hell. So 498a is not for protection of
> women, it is for the protection of wife (WIFE
> ONLY!!!). Why is that no other country in the world
> have such gender-biased, wife-biased law? If you are
> giving me the statistics w.r.t. the convictions and
> judgements, then respect the statistics and confess
> that the misuse of the law is rampant. The judicial
> results speak for themselves.
>  


Just like there is no other country in the world where
practices like female infanticide, sati, un
touchability, dowry practices, festivals where women
fast without food or water for their husbands, etc.
exist- there was a need to enact a law related to
harassment within a family relating to dowry. 

Criminal cruelty laws under sec. 323 to 326 IPC and
sec. 352 IPC can be used by both men and women.
However those laws were not enough to help victims of
dowry harassment hence the enactment of Sec.498a was
necessary. 

Please bear in mind that THERE IS NO COMPARATIVE
AMENDMENT IN THE EVIDENCE LAWS SO A COMPLAINANT HAS TO
PROVE the same level of cruelty as required by the
other general sections, regardless of whether the
crime is non-bailable or not. And if the evidence is
not sufficient- you do realize that the case will be
dismissed. Hence the statistics regarding the really
low percentage of conviction under this provision-
Yep! The judicial results speak for themselves.


> 2) If you want us to believe that the woman
> organization statistics is more reliable than court
> results, than we differ in opinions. What makes you
> believe so much on woman organization and their
> work. Please give me name of one independent social
> research on 498a conducted by an organization which
> is not headed by woman?
> 

I am a bit weary of people saying that women are
perpetuating a false picture! I am not sure why you
think women can get away by giving incorrect
information.

 I, for one, have worked with Non-profits headed by
women as well as men and all experiences I have had in
the area of crimes against women in and outside of
marriage have been the same.  (Human rights law
network was being run by Colin Gonsalvez when I placed
with them and Mahila Samakhya in UP was being run by
Nishi Agarwal when I placed with them.) Please tell me
how you conclude that a report should be discredited
just because it was written or supervised by a woman!



> 3) If you are trying to say woman do not have
> problem of aggresion and that 498a is used as a last
> resort by them to escape physical and mental
> torture, then you ought to have open mind and do
> some more readings by psychologist on the net.


Huh? So when a family harasses the daughter in law for
dowry and she decides to take action, she is doing so
because she has a problem with aggression? Not sure
how you come to that conclusion? 

It is preposterous to club all women and their claims
under 498A as being caused by aggression! Have you any
idea how many women have access to freely be able to
seek legal recourse? For every woman who might be able
to misuse the provision, there are countless who are
not even aware of the fact that there are laws which
protect them from harassment within the family!


>  
> 4) You forgot to add that Center for Social research
> headed by a woman (who confesses to being a
> feminist) reported in August'2005 that only 6.5% of
> the cases of 498a are false, where are High court
> and Supreme court judges who deal with this social
> epidemic on a regular basis have said that the
> percentage is somewhere around 70-80%.
> 


Pray please tell me what lead you to say “ who
confesses to being a feminist”..may I take the liberty
of asking you why you are equating being a feminist as
being something that might be a bad thing?!! And could
you please cite your source for the High Court and
Supreme court judges mentioning the percentage of
false claims as being 70-80?


> Truth about IPC-498a
> --------------------
> What 498a is:
> 
> 1) Gender Biased law: Only women or her relative(s)
> can invoke it.

Nothing stops men from filing for cruelty, false
claims, fraudulent claim, harassment, etc. under IPC.
On the other hand, women had no specific recourse when
they were being subject to harassment relating to
dowry. And oh, the last time I checked, women were
asked to pay dowry
not men!! 

> 2) Wife specific : Only married women's relatives
> can invoke it.

Same as above!

> 3) No proof required: Can be invoked by wife
> whenever she wants,
> without any proof of any sort.

Preposterous. The level of proof required is the same
as that required under sections 323 to 326 and sec.
352. The only time there is a presumption against
innocence is when the woman dies within 7 years of
marriage and it is proved that the woman was being
harassed for dowry ( section 113A Evidence Act)

> 4) Non-bailable: All those named in the FIR (first
> Information
> report) have to be arrested without police bail.
> These people may
> not be living within the same household as wife
> (distant relatives
> can be implicated too).

Nothing turns on that. Bail can be applied for before
a judge as soon as the arrests are made. 

> 5) Non-compundable: Once wife invokes it, she cannot
> take it back.

The reason being that many times the family coerces
the victim to take the case back by threatening her
and her family. The government prosecutor is free to
decide not to move forward with the case if the
evidence is insufficient!

> 6) Criminal law: It is not a civil law, it comes
> under criminal
> code.

Yep! It is an offence against a person which is
criminal in nature and affects society as a whole
therefore putting the onus on the state to protect the
life and liberty of the person, therefore needing it
to be enacted within criminal law. I am not sure how
it would fit into a private party conflict scenario!

> 7) This law exists only in India: No where in the
> world you can find
> this kind of ridiculous law.

And no where in the world does the society still allow
and accept the practice of dowry giving and taking so
openly, in families rich and poor! No where in the
world do societies keep mum when a woman is being
harassed, abused and burnt alive in the name of dowry.


> 8) Extortion racket: Most implicated people/family
> are from middle
> to high class

And for every alleged false complaint filed, there are
thousands of innocent victims whose lives are ruined
and who die not knowing there was a law out there
which could have saved them.

> 9) No punishment for filing false 498a: even if it
> is proved that
> wife misused the law, she and her family members go
> spotfree.

Civil suit for filing false complaint, fraudulent
complaint, etc. are not barred. Criminal laws are
meant to be such that people are not afraid of
repercussions or retaliations for coming out in the
open and filing complaints! Can you imagine if the law
started to punish all those who file complaints
against powerful gangsters who end up getting
acquitted as there is insufficient evidence against
them? 

> 10) Causing corruption and misuse of police power:
> Police harrasses
> family members implicated in 498a.

What percentage? Please cite a source. Police officers
tend to be insensitive usually of women who want to
file an FIR under 498A as their thinking borders
closely with what you are suggesting!

> 11) Simple search on internet will show that it is
> getting misused
> heavily by modern women in India and rural women
> (for whom this law
> was made) are more or less in the same situation as
> they were when
> the law was introduced.
> 

Reality is not the internet my friend. NGOs and the
government are doing all they can to spread awareness
among families about laws of this kind. Reality is
lack of resources for families to seek enforcement
under such laws. Reality is people crying about this
law instead of looking at it as a powerful tool to use
to eradicate such practices from our societies.
Reality is having the case thrown out of court because
the woman could not produce sufficient evidence to
prove that cruelty being faced was due to dowry 
demands, and having to go back to the same family even
more in fear of her life.  

> 498a is not:
> 
> 1) does not Save marriage: We do not have a single
> incident when
> wife reconciled with husband after 498a.

Why would you want to go into a situation where you
were abused, mistreated and left for dead while your
family was shelling out thousands to feed the greed of
your husband and in-laws! And the law is not meant to
save the marriage, it is meant to save lives of women
who will eventually suffer deadly consequences for not
paying enough dowry.

> 2) not helping wife also: We do not hear of what
> happens to woman
> who had put 498a. Why don't women organization
> publish statistics
> about post-498a state of women.

They end up ALIVE AND LIVE WITH DIGNITY EVER AFTER.
Sorry those are not numbers or statistics, merely the
conclusion that most such cases seek and some get.


> 3) not about gender equality: It is about improper
> law to help wife
> dictate the rules in a family. With every FIR,
> another woman (mother-
> in-law) is also implicated.
> 

And with every case that does not get reported some
mother in law out there is letting her greed get the
best of her. Gender equality would result in the
eradication of this practice all together thereby
ending the need for such a law.

Protima Pandey


--- Jayna Kothari <jaynakothari at justice.com> wrote:

> 
> Dear Peter and Satyamev,
> 
> You said,
> "Yes, the extraordinary thing about 498a is it
> requires
> no proof whatsoever and all the people named in the
> FIR
> be it false are put in jail" 
> 
> Where did you get this from? Sec/ 498A is part of
> the
> Indian Penal Code and requires the same amount of
> investigation and proof for arrest as all other
> cognizable offences. 
> 
> "The nature of 498a being that it is non
> compoundable
> which means once the wife or some one from her
> family
> files a 498a they cannon take it back and the onus
> of
> proof is on the defendent." 
> This is exactly where the law is being overturned
> against women. Even though a case under 498A cannot
> be
> compounded or taken back, official state records
> show
> (including the Karnataka State Crime Records) that
> these cases are being taken back and women are
> forced
> to settle them by the police and magistrates.  
> 
> "If the police do some investigation before
> arresting
> as they do for murders and serial killers I think
> things would be much better. Are these innocent old
> parents and sisters of husband worse than those
> serial
> killers?"
> You know Peter, if a woman is killed within the four
> walls of a home, I dont think it is any different
> from
> murder. The family members or whoever is responsible
> for such killing should be treated as seriously as
> murderers.
>  
> And lastly one response to Satyamev,
> Satyamev, I am not only using studies done by women
> since you say that they may be biased. Would you say
> that the reports of the Karnataka State Crime
> Records
> are also biased? I am sure these records were not
> made
> by women!! 
> also one last question for you. You have made so
> many
> statements on 'truths about section 498A' on your
> blog
> and also in your email. Can you please give me some
> sources or empirical studies to support your
> statements? You have said that there are High court
> and
> Supreme court judges who deal with this social
> epidemic
> on a regular basis have said that the percentage is
> somewhere around 70-80%. I dont think we can rely on
> judges statements merely because they are judges. So
> please give me the exact judgements where these
> judges
> have said so, and give me information whether they
> have
> relied on any statistics whatsoever to state that
> the
> percentage of misuse is 70-80%. I am truly
> interested
> and curious.
> 
> thanks,
> Jayna
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Peter
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