In
India, there is a law called IPC -498-A which says that a wife can get her
husband and her in-laws arrested or even convicted without evidence. The sole
statement and complaint of the wife shall primarily hold as evidence and police can arrest without any evidence against the accused.
Result of it was that many women started blackmailing their husbands and in-laws and many false cases of dowry were unearthed, some of them even managed to disprove them by phone and video recordings.
MY QUESTION IS:
What is your opinion about this baseless law?
My opinion is that it is perhaps the world's first law where a judgment or decision is given without evidence and I am strongly against this law. It is a blot and a disrespect to the legal system.
Also, my opinion for advantages which it provides to women is that firstly, they don't have to struggle or take the trouble for collecting evidences for claiming their husbands or in-laws guilty ,if their story is true. Secondly, if their story is not true, then it provides them an easy platform to extort money or accept other demands made by them from their husbands or in-laws.
In December 2013, Union Minister Farooq Abdullah said that he is afraid even to talk to girls or women and decides not keep any female employee even if she is ugly because the sole complaint of the women/girl shall land him in jail. He also said angrily that why don't the media personnel send all men to jail.
Expressing exasperation over rampant misuse of Section 498A, a bench of Justices C K Prasad and P C Ghose said if police arrested the accused, the magistrate should weigh the preliminary evidence against the Section 41 checklist before allowing further detention.
Many lawyers have also suggested that employers should not keep lady secretaries as they can misuse the laws and get any guy arrested by lodging a false complaint without giving any evidence for their accusations.
We can afford to avoid hiring women in organizations, but due to the fear of this law, we cannot afford to stop marrying. This is not a feasible solution as this creates more problem for people and the society comparing with the solutions. What needs to be suggested is that proper investigations and verification should be done to find out that which families and girls are genuine who will not blackmail there future husbands and in laws.
There needs to be a solution to this because every 9 minutes one married man commits suicide.
Thanks, if you choose to reply then I would be grateful.
Result of it was that many women started blackmailing their husbands and in-laws and many false cases of dowry were unearthed, some of them even managed to disprove them by phone and video recordings.
MY QUESTION IS:
What is your opinion about this baseless law?
My opinion is that it is perhaps the world's first law where a judgment or decision is given without evidence and I am strongly against this law. It is a blot and a disrespect to the legal system.
Also, my opinion for advantages which it provides to women is that firstly, they don't have to struggle or take the trouble for collecting evidences for claiming their husbands or in-laws guilty ,if their story is true. Secondly, if their story is not true, then it provides them an easy platform to extort money or accept other demands made by them from their husbands or in-laws.
In December 2013, Union Minister Farooq Abdullah said that he is afraid even to talk to girls or women and decides not keep any female employee even if she is ugly because the sole complaint of the women/girl shall land him in jail. He also said angrily that why don't the media personnel send all men to jail.
Expressing exasperation over rampant misuse of Section 498A, a bench of Justices C K Prasad and P C Ghose said if police arrested the accused, the magistrate should weigh the preliminary evidence against the Section 41 checklist before allowing further detention.
Many lawyers have also suggested that employers should not keep lady secretaries as they can misuse the laws and get any guy arrested by lodging a false complaint without giving any evidence for their accusations.
We can afford to avoid hiring women in organizations, but due to the fear of this law, we cannot afford to stop marrying. This is not a feasible solution as this creates more problem for people and the society comparing with the solutions. What needs to be suggested is that proper investigations and verification should be done to find out that which families and girls are genuine who will not blackmail there future husbands and in laws.
There needs to be a solution to this because every 9 minutes one married man commits suicide.
Thanks, if you choose to reply then I would be grateful.
Shailesh,
ReplyDeleteI do understand where you are coming from. Yes, there have been instances in which the law has been abused by many women to exploit their husbands. However, one cannot deny that IPC-498 A is definitely going to help and support women in this patriarchal society who are often victims of abuse due to the evils of the dowry system. We need to be able to make the law more stringent so it serves the purpose for which it was made in the first place. Do share your views on my comments
Yes ma'm. I agree with you that it is an advantage for those women who have really been tortured. I have gone through many profiles in shaadi dot com and there I have often read that many women or her relatives and/or representatives have clearly mentioned in there profile that dowry seekers should not send invitations to them. This is one thing which I appreciate. There are other ways to deal with this problem and just relying solely on statement of the wife is not at all a solution because it is infeasible and creates more problems than it solves.
DeleteShailesh, I'm glad that you expanded it. Thanks for writing this down.
ReplyDeleteBut I'd like to know your opinions on the advantages it provides to women?
My opinion for advantages which it provides to women is that firstly, they don't have to struggle or take the trouble for collecting evidences for claiming their husbands or in-laws guilty ,if their story is true. Secondly, if their story is not true, then it provides them an easy platform to extort money or accept other demands made by them from their husbands or in-laws.
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