CHANDIGARH: Generating a great deal of debate and curiosity in a reverse crime of sorts, a resident has moved the district courts to seek the registration of an FIR against his wife for giving him dowry.
Ravinder Singh Dhanju of Attawa village in Chandigarh filed a petition on Tuesday under Section 156 (3) of CrPC for directions from court to incharge of the women’s cell in Sector 17 or SHO Sector 36 to register a case against wife Baljinder Kaur and in-laws under Section 3 of Dowry Prohibition Act.
At the receiving end himself when Hisar police on November 29, 2008, booked him and his family, including his Australia-based brother, under various section of IPC for dowry harassment and criminal conspiracy on the complaint of his wife, Dhanju turned the situation on its head by stating in his plea that under Section 3 of the Dowry Act, if a well-educated woman married despite demands, she and her family too became partners in crime.
Alleging that Hisar cops ignored the fact that giving dowry was also an offence, Dhanju’s lawyer TS Soodan pleaded that the statements of Kaur and others in the FIR against his client be treated as confessions and the guilty be booked accordingly.
Dhanju married Kaur, a resident of Hisar, in December 2004, after the couple had a son out of wedlock. In their complaint, his wife and her parents stated that they had spent Rs 18-19 lakh on the marriage. They also presented a list of articles and cash that had been allegedly given to Dhanju and his family as dowry.
After receiving the petition, the court of judicial magistrate first class Sunil Kumar fixed January 19 as the next date of hearing.
