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 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.
What suggestions, solutions or alternatives do you have to this issue where women are not harassed for dowry and simultaneously it is assured that they do not misuse anti-dowry laws?
In my opinion, every marriage should be registered with an undertaking in stamp paper by both sides that none of the parties have given or received dowry in any form or exchanged gifts from either side.