Prepare list of dowry articles to prove claims: HC
SOURCE - https://www.indianexpress.com/news/prepare-list-of-dowry-articles-to-prove-claims-hc/755421/2
Upset over the “gross misuse” of the Dowry Prohibition Act, which aims to accord relief to real victims of dowry harassment, a Delhi High Court judge has hit upon a unique idea that may not only reduce the number of false dowry harassment petitions but also provide trial courts with reliable evidence.
According to Justice S N Dhingra’s suggestion, at the time of marriage, the families of both the bride and the groom should prepare a list of articles and gifts being exchanged. Representatives of both sides should then sign the list to make it authentic.
This, the judge held, will discourage parties from moving the court with false claims of harassment. Production of the list before a trial court judge by either side would also form a credible piece of evidence, observed the court.
“It is in the interests of both parties that a list of dowry articles be prepared at the time of marriage, duly signed by both parties. Though the evil of dowry cannot be curbed this way, it would curb the tendency of making astronomical claims later on just to brand every member of the in-laws’ family a criminal,” held Justice Dhingra.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a woman demanding the cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and the elder brother of her late father-in-law — all booked under a dowry harassment case filed by her. The lower court had granted them protection from arrest, noting that no useful purpose was likely to be served by directing the police to arrest the elderly relatives and the unmarried sister-in-law.
The petitioner, however, claimed that their arrest was necessary for comprehensive custodial interrogation, and hence, bail should be cancelled.
Justice Dhingra dismissed the petition, observing that in almost every case of marital discord, penal provisions were invariably invoked against all relatives of the complainant’s husband.
“Normally, every complainant ropes in all relatives, including distant relatives living far away from the matrimonial home, by making stereotyped and similar allegations. This tendency of roping in every known relative, including minors, has made these provisions blunt,” he noted. The gross misuse also poses a grave problem for the courts during trial and while deciding bail applications, Justice Dhingra added.
The court noted that there was usually nothing on record to prove the charges, except oral allegations of cruelty and dowry demand. Further, there was no agreed list of articles given at the time of marriage.
“The Dowry Prohibition Act proved futile in bringing an end to the evil of dowry for this reason. Mere oral allegations of having given a huge amount of dowry, without substantiating them through bills of purchase of the articles or a list prepared at the time of marriage and signed by both parties, cannot be given credence,” said the High Court.
