A boy (Raghav), with his family, meets a girl (Mita)’s family. They like each other and they discuss marriage. The date is set ………. Preparations on its way and then comes the D-Day. Raghav and Mita get married in what we call a dream wedding. Friends, relatives and guests go back happy and satisfied and Mita starts her new journey at Raghav’s home. Months pass by and like every new couple they too get busy leading their lives until one day I hear a shocking news….. Raghav and his parents got arrested for torturing the bride u/s IPC 498A. I have known Raghav’s family for ages. So, the first reaction was that of disbelief. How could they do this!!!
IPC 498A states that…. 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. The offence is Cognizable, non-compoundable and non-bailable.
Though the term ‘Cognizable’ means the complaint made by the girl’s family needs to be registered and investigated but in reality arrests are done based on complaints and no investigation is done about the authenticity.
However, after spending some strenuous days of mental torture in the jail, Raghav and his parents are set free. Mita’s family has agreed for an out of court settlement wherein they have demanded an obnoxious sum of money as alimony. Raghav has agreed upon the alimony just to get rid of Mita and her blackmails and lead a peaceful life.
This story might sound familiar to many people. Some may have faced it directly and others may know someone who has been through this ordeal.
Women have been subject to torture for dowry for ages. They have been beaten, burned alive, murdered. Some of the groom’s family has been punished and many have managed to dupe the law. In order to safeguard the women from torture in their matrimonial homes, the IPC was amended and 498A was inserted in our legal system. But do the real victims ever seek justice!!! A study shows that if you pick up 10 men randomly from the street, at least 7 of them would have IPC 498 imposed on them.
A law which was made to protect the women has become an aid for them to blackmail and extort money from the groom’s family. There have been many instances where the guy had to commit suicide under pressure as he could not bear the harassment he had to face from the girl, her family and the corrupt legal system. The so called ‘abala nari’ gets an upper hand to harass her husband and his family in the name of torture and gets away with a nice amount of money.
Isn’t it high time proper amendments are made in the law so that the innocents don’t get harassed and the offenders are punished??
I invite my friends to put your inputs/opinions on this issue. Experts comments are also welcome as this has become a problem in every second household.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
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