India shifts dowry law against 'vindictive wives'
As on Date July 4, 2014 By Amrit Dhillon
Source : http://www.smh.com.au/world/india-shifts-dowry-law-against-vindictive-wives-20140704-zsvg8.html
As on Date July 4, 2014 By Amrit Dhillon
New Delhi: Munish Dalal became a national hate figure when his pretty and vivacious bride-to-be, Nisha Sharma, accused him of demanding more dowry on the eve of their marriage.
Ms Sharma was feted by the world’s press as an icon of feisty Indian womanhood for reporting her fiance to the police under the country’s anti-dowry laws.
These laws are aimed at tackling the husbands and in-laws who, even though they have received a dowry on marriage, abuse and torture a woman afterwards so that she asks her parents to hand over yet more cash and consumer durables.
Figures from 2012 show that one woman dies every hour in India over demands for more dowry.
The crime is so common that the law allows the police to arrest a man the moment his wife alleges that he demanded more dowry. No evidence has to be produced. Bail depends on the discretion of the judge. The man is considered guilty until he can prove his innocence.
But in a ruling this week, the Supreme Court said the police cannot arrest a man on the basis of an allegation. Condemning the law’s misuse by ''disgruntled'' wives ''as a weapon rather than a shield'', the court said the police must give reasons for the arrest that would then be examined by a magistrate.
''The ruling on arrests is long overdue. False cases had become an epidemic. We used to call it legal terrorism. Now men can sleep more peacefully,'' said Rohit Girdhar, a co-ordinator with the Save the Family Foundation in New Delhi, which has campaigned for the law to be amended.
Mr Girdhar, who was falsely accused by his wife but acquitted by the courts in 2012, said the foundation has thousands of victims whose ''poisonous and vindictive'' wives used the law to blackmail them into giving a fatter alimony, settle scores, ruin their name or to get custody of the children.
One man who went to the foundation recently for counselling was a New Delhi music teacher. Mr Girdhar claims that the teacher’s wife was mentally unstable from the day he married her and kept false accusations of infidelity against him. Five years ago, as their marriage crumbled, she walked into the local police station to accuse him of demanding more dowry.
''That man’s entire family has been devastated. It took just one vicious woman to do it. He and his elderly parents have been running around the courts for eight years. By the time the verdict comes, it will be too late for this man. He has been damaged too much, he has lost his faith in people,'' Mr Girdhar said.
For women’s rights groups, given the high levels of violence against women, the ruling is retrograde. Brinda Karat, general-secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, said she was opposed to the dilution of a law that had come after years of debate and struggle.
''Dowry is rampant, worse than ever before. I oppose any law being misused but our studies show that men do get bail. Why is the Supreme Court not equally concerned about the women who are brutally murdered over dowry?'' Karat said.
For Mr Dalal, the ruling is sweet vindication. After being painted as a national villain a decade ago, in 2012, he was cleared by the courts. It turned out his fiance had been in love with another man.
''She didn’t want to marry me but was scared of her parents. By accusing me falsely, she was trying to get out of the marriage without incurring their anger,'' Mr Dalal said.
Source : http://www.smh.com.au/world/india-shifts-dowry-law-against-vindictive-wives-20140704-zsvg8.html
