CHAPTER III
The Turn Around: Society at large considers the jailing of a
family under false charges to be a low blow. The sympathy factor will now shift
in your favor. Initially, you will be
urged, cajoled and threatened to accede to their demands. The police will
advice you to settle and will attempt to mediate. There may be other
intermediaries as well. Under no circumstances should you concede. They are
turning up the heat for a reason and the reason is your money. They will hound
you to get it. It is an ordeal and it may last a few hours to a few months.
Just hang on. Like I said, they will do all they can to break your will, and
this is for a reason. Here is why. The beauty of a 498A lies in the fact that
the police and the other party have a narrow window to get you to cough up the
cash. And this window of time will last until you are out on bail and the case
moves into the courts. There will be intense pressure to settle the case prior
to this juncture. Withstand it. If you hold on now, then you will get the
biggest prize for undergoing all this. You are now eligible for divorce on the
grounds of cruelty. The Delhi High Court (FAO 67/2000 Smt. Pinki Jain Vs. Sh.
Sanjay Jain DATE OF ORDER: 31-01-2005) has recognized that filing a false 498A
is an act of cruelty. Ditching the 498A Wife has just gotten easier for
you. There are other advantages. These
are:
• The police will lose interest in your case. The other side
will have to keep bribing them to keep them moving and they will eventually run
out of the cash. These police are lazy and will only go a certain extent before
they give up. The police will also run at the first sign of trouble.
• The other side will come to their senses. They will
realize that the plan has backfired and they have a 498A daughter on their
hands. No one will come forward to marry her again.
• The other side will realize that if you engage a smart
lawyer, he can make them run around the courts for a while. They will feel the
pressure to settle. There have been spates of judgments from the Delhi High
Court that have dismissed such 498A cases. Once you get out, you are through.
There is a chance that you may get conditional bail. Be patient. The conditions
can be relaxed in time. From here on, it’s your lawyers’ job to guide you. Hope
you get a good one. Don’t feel disheartened. A 498A can be beaten with patience
and planning. In most cases the charges filed will be blatant lies. Lies don’t
stand up to hard scrutiny. You will prevail and I know many guys who have
beaten these 498A Wives back, having them beg for a compromise within a year of
filing the 498A. When Do People Give in? : IPC 498A is an extortion racket.
It’s called an extortion racket because the official machinery is used to
extort money from you by exploiting your weaknesses. The weakest links are the parents and young
siblings. The age group of men facing a 498A will range from 25 to 35 on the
average. This means that parents, whose ages range from 45 to 70+, are the ones
who are affected the most. These are retirees. If they need to travel for court
appearances frequently, it imposes a considerable amount of strain on them. Not
to mention the stress caused by getting entangled in a criminal case. Parents literally age in a span of a few
years. The cases don’t move as the courts are clogged and there is the social
stigma of being caught up in a criminal case. Some parents may never be
acquitted in what is left of their lifetime. A 498A sometimes breaks the bonds
between siblings, especially the ones who are married as they are threatened
with being implicated unless they stay out. Siblings are forced to stay out
just to avoid the hassle. Another weak
link are young unmarried siblings, especially girls. Since cases take many years
to resolve, the lives of these young girls are put on hold. No one wants to
enter into a match with a girl facing a criminal case that can go on for years.
It gets worse for married siblings and their spouses as they find themselves
entangled in this mess. Their kids are impacted too as they have to undergo the
trauma of watching their parents getting arrested. They need to deal with the
daily grind of life as well as a criminal case. Some families are lucky in the
sense that they have other daughters in law who support them in this ordeal. Copyright: ipc498A.wordpress.com 1/10 11/9/07
Another factor is the muscle that political heavy weights
from the other side can bring into the case. Redress under normal circumstances
is difficult. It becomes impossible in these conditions. This is when people
give in and pay up. It is just not worth continuing to fight. My intention here is not to judge the people
who give in or paint them in a negative light. The intent is to highlight what
the state is inflicting on its citizens, especially the generation of our
parents who had sacrificed so much, to get us to where we are. If our country is booming today, it is on
account of the sacrifices made by the generation of our parents, who piled us
on to a Chetak scooters and took us to movies and parks, and gave us their
best, in what they could afford. They dropped us in the early hours of the
morning at coaching institutes for admission tests. It is this generation who
ran around banks and mortgaged their savings and ended up in debt to up to
their necks to send us abroad or pay donations to get us into professional
colleges. Can any one of you forget their joy when you got your visa or how
they hid their disappointment and consoled you when you didn’t? The plight of our parents, caught up in this
extortion racket, exposes the moral bankruptcy of the political class beholden
to a small coterie for whatever purpose that this coterie serves. Could they be
playing to the “naari” vote bank?
Fighting Back: Once out on bail, you will be dealing with
the judiciary. The police won’t get near you, unless you let them. In some
cases, I’ve heard of police harassment continuing, but that is akin to a dog
barking. Ignore and focus on the task at hand. This is when the real battle
starts. Think carefully on how you will defend yourself by fighting back. A lot
depends upon the way you fight back.
498A is promoted as a law that shields women from the violence of men.
In reality, 498A is a poorly drafted and implemented law. Women’s groups
prevent any kind of a civilized, factual debate from taking place as well as
oppose any mention of amendments. If a man tries to fight a 498A, he has lost
the fight before he starts, as the battle is framed as a man vs. woman fight.
The best way to fight back is by taking a tactic from the Mahabharata and
applying it here.
Bhishma was decimating the Pandava army. The only way to
eliminate him was by placing Shikhandin in the front and letting Arjuna wield
the bow. The groups that oppose amendments to 498A are neither as noble as
Bhishma nor are they are as powerful. They have gotten this far only due to the
fact they are well organized, can mobilize large numbers at short notice, have
the MPs cowed down, and are yet to face any organized opposition from ordinary
women who have been tending to their families and their responsibilities, while
these groups have hijacked a noble cause in their name. Your family
collectively needs to play the role of Arjuna and the women of your family need
to play Shikandhin. Rope in your grandma, mom, sister, niece’s aunts and above
all, your sisters-in-law into this fight. The establishment will not touch them
or be able to retaliate against them.
You can do a lot from your home by using the Internet and by shooting letters
of protest to the responsible ministries highlighting the indignities heaped
upon you. I do advise you to be concise and factual in all your dealings with
the govt if you want to be taken seriously. Watch the language. Make it as
decent and unemotional as possible. Get your complaints proof read for errors
of any kind. Here are some other things you may want to do:
• Keep a copy of past judgments relevant to your case. You
may just be able to escape by using them. There aretons of judgments at this
site (http://ipc498a.wordpress.com/). Choose the ones applicable to your case.
• Apply for dispensation from personal appearance for the
immediate family in the court. You may get it. The code of Criminal Procedure
1973 allows it. Section 115 says: 115. Power to dispense with personal
attendance: The Magistrate may, if he sees sufficient cause, dispense with the
personal attendance of any person called upon to show cause why he should not
be ordered to execute a bond for keeping the peace or for good behavior and may
permit him to appear by a pleader.
• Split the case from that of your family. If they are out,
the opposition is no longer capable of pressing your hot buttons. You can do
this by filing a Quash petition just for the members of your family. You stay
out of it Copyright: ipc498A.wordpress.com
2/10 11/9/07 and let your case go on. I repeat, make sure that you are
not a party to the quash petition. The acquitted members of your family may be
able to pursue section 182 against their false accusers.
• Get the women in your family to file complaints with the
National Commission for Women. Here is the link (http://ncw.nic.in/ncwcomplaint1/home.asp).
If the link is inactive, mail them a letter (http://ncw.nic.in/contact.htm), CC
the Home Ministry (http://mha.gov.in/) and drop a note to the PMO (http://pmindia.gov.in/write.htm).
File your complaint with the PMO under the category of grievances and women’s
issues. You can also email the National Criminal Justice System Policy Drafting
Committee about your 498A experience: 1. (http://mha.gov.in/ncjsp.htm) 2. (cjspdc@yahoo.co.in
<cjspdc@yahoo.co.in>) Please
ensure that you submit the complaint on behalf of the women in your family who
were victims of 498A. Address the letters to the heads or Chief Secretaries at
each of these institutions. Follow up with an RTI about the status of your
complaints.
• File an RTI with the office of the DGP of your state to
know what investigation the police inspector has done before arresting you (if
you have been arrested) or what investigation was done after the filing of the
FIR. Trust me, they will quake when they get hit with a well-drafted RTI. The police don’t like RTIs.
• Think about sending the Income Tax guys after your in-laws
if they claim to have given you dowry or they call it Sthreedhan. Inform the
Income Tax guys through a court order about the claims of money given to you.
Here is a link to the location of offices (http://tinyurl.com/2rpp7g) by state.
If you file a complaint, follow up with an RTI (http://tinyurl.com/32pa5p). Justice
Dhingra has given a judgment (Date of Decision: February 23, 2007
CRL.M.C.7262/2006 Smt. Neera Singh Vs THE STATE (GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI) and
ORS) about reporting these kinds of 498A cases to the Income Tax authorities.
Here is an excerpt: “If huge cash amounts are alleged to be given at the time
of marriage which are not accounted anywhere, such cash transactions should be
brought to the notice of the Income Tax Department by the Court so that source
of income is verified and the person is brought to law. It is only because the
Courts are not insisting upon compliance with the relevant provisions of law
while entertaining such complaints and action is taken merely on the statement
of the complainant, without any verification that a large number of false
complaints are pouring in.”
• Sections 182 and 211 of IPC provide punishment for making
a wrong complaint and false charges of offence. Similarly Section 358 of Cr.
P.C. deals with cases of groundless arrests.
• Get your lawyers to file complaints against the in-laws in
the police station or a writ petition in the court for admitting to giving
dowry. Giving dowry is also a crime. I
am basing this on the same judgment by Justice Dhingra. If they admit to not
giving you dowry under this pressure, then be assured you can nail them in a perjury
case. Get a your lawyer to pursue this angle. If the police refuse to accept
your complaint, get a court order for them to do so. Logic dictates that they
will accept the complaint as they can extract bribes from the other side. This
is one of the fastest ways to settle the case on your terms.
• Do not compromise as long as the 498A is on. Ask them to
withdraw it before they make any attempts to negotiate a settlement. Be
unyielding in your stand. They have more to lose than you do. With a 498A daughter
on their hands, these morons are running out of time and options. They need to
dump her on some pitiful man. They need your money to buy the other guy and
recoup the investment made in the 498A case. As time goes by, the age of the
498A daughter will become a factor. It gets difficult to unload her.
• If she filed a 498A to force you into a divorce in order
to take off with the boyfriend, file an RCR (Restitution Of Conjugal Rights)
and refuse a divorce until this gets sorted out. You will have her on the
defensive immediately. Talk to SIF volunteers about this.
• Never take the 498A Wife back again. Let her live her life
in her parents’ home. I assure you, she is a burden they will be unwilling to
bear. In effect, she has condemned herself to a miserable existence. Copyright: ipc498A.wordpress.com 3/1011/9/07
• Get the women in your family to file complaints in the
Mahila Thanas in the event that they are threatened by anyone, including the
police. These women’s protection cells are meant for women, not just for the
498A wives. This may help in warding off a DV Act later.
• Wish your 498A wife and her parents a long life. They need
to repay your tears, with interest. The Hesitation To Fight Back: In spite of
the many tools available to fight back, you may be very hesitant to approach
the different government agencies to file complaints or fight back through the
courts. One of the things you can do is not look at this like a gigantic task,
but to break it into a small series of steps to accomplish this task over a
period of time. Like all Indians, you distrust the system. I completely understand
that feeling. Let me throw some light at our system. The Indian establishment
is not meant for the common man. In India, you need to fight to avail yourself
of basic nation provides as a matter of right to its citizens, a prime example
being security through the police. Through our lives, we are trained to believe
that nothing moves unless palms are greased. The average Indian citizen is
disgusted with the corruption within the bureaucracy, and will avoid contact
with any government agency, leave alone the police. The distrust runs
deep. There is hope in the sense that
this is a system and it needs things to be quiet. Initially, any attempts to
ruffle the system will be met with indifference at best and intimidation at
worst. Persist. The system would like to continue to go about its way and if
you are persistent, it will respond just to get rid of you and get you off its
back. Again, an RTI is a very effective tool to ruffle the system to get it to
listen to you. At this juncture, I would
like to introduce you to Mrs JN Jayashree. She is wife of a senior IAS officer
of Karnataka. Disgusted with the way the govt was treating her honest husband,
she set up a website to fight corruption. Attempts have been made to intimidate
her and her husband, but this courageous lady is on a rampage and is causing
quite an embarrassment to the powers that be. She has been written about in the
New York Times, The International Herald Tribune and the Indian Express. You
can read about her at her blog, http://fightcorruption.wikidot.com/. The primary reason for mentioning her here
is that her blog has many examples of RTIs she has filed that you may want to
use as templates. The Indian Police: I start with an apology to the dedicated
professionals of the Indian police force. What I have written can be construed as
a PR disaster for the Indian Police force. But I also know that none can
question the truthfulness of what I have written. Here is an excerpt from an
article from the SVNPA (http://tinyurl.com/3yuvfm) on police corruption. I
Quote: “Over the
years, the corruption has spread to other areas of police as well. This was
largely due to the steady expansion of the role of police in view of the enactment
of a number of social and other legislations that are to be enforced by the
police. The success of any social legislation depends on the effectiveness of
its enforcement and police have a protective as well as promotional role to
perform in this sphere”. Section 498A
is a social issue disguised as a criminal issue. 498A fosters corruption, as
the very nature of it, due to it its loopholes, exposes the police force to
corruption. My task is to raise awareness about this extortion racket and prepare
the accused to be aware of what they may face. I needed to present the worst
case scenario, which is what my family faced, so that innocent families know
what to expect and can prepare for the worst. The police force is an underpaid,
ill equipped and ill treated organization. The personnel are constantly under pressure,
and they are asked to accomplish a lot, while given meager resources to work
with. I have a lot of respect for the men and women who do their best under
these conditions. There is always a chance that you will meet an honest, upright
police officer. I hope you do. There are cases where the officers and
constables have walked away after a preliminary investigation and one meeting
with the accused. You may meet decent police inspectors who will treat you with
courtesy and do all they can to help you. All the same, be prepared for the
worst. The Indian Police Force has many
outstanding officers. Among the tribe of the IPS (http://tinyurl.com/3dhu8v) officers,
the chances of finding gentlemen are higher than in the lower ranks. Do your
homework and approach them for help. Copyright:
ipc498A.wordpress.com 4/10 11/9/07 I harbor no animosity towards the Indian
police force and its dedicated personnel, but I do wish that senior officers reign
in corrupt officers who terrorize innocent civilians who get entangled in a
criminal case due to idiotic laws. We have an army to be proud of. Why not a
police force? I’ve covered the Indian Police force extensively as the police
play the primary role in this extortion racket. The intent of this extensive
coverage is to ensure that you understand what is going on and so can stand up
to your rights and be treated in accordance with the law. Here is the link
(http://tinyurl.com/2kf5az) to the website of an outstanding IPS officer,
murdered by naxalites. A police officer I would like to meet is Mr.Abhinav
Kumar, IPS. He writes for the Indian Express on occasion and was formerly a
reporter with India Today. Here is a link (http://tinyurl.com/2pf6k2) to some
of his writings and exploits. Here is another lin (http://tinyurl.com/37zvrg)
to an article by B Raman. Here are some stats on casualties (http://tinyurl.com/2v6sap)
suffered by the police nationally. At this juncture, I would like to thank Dr.
Arvind Verma for the excellent and insightful articles he has written about the
Indian police force. I have quoted extensively from his articles in
Indiatogether and he has revealed a lot about the Indian Police force. I have
collected his articles in one place and you can access them at this link (http://tinyurl.com/383orp).
Filing Complaints Against The Police: The police play a big part in this
extortion racket. They are supposed to act as guards that determine eligibility
of the accused, entry into the clogged criminal justice system. In reality,
they never investigate. In the words of Justice Dhingra (Crl.Appeal No.
696/2004, 01.Nov.2007): “In all these cases in the name of investigation,
except recording statement of complainant and her few relatives nothing is done
by police. The police do not verify any circumstantial evidence nor collect any
other evidence about the claims made by the complainant. No evidence about
giving of dowry or resources of the complainant’s family claiming spending of
huge amounts is collected by the police. This all is resulting into gross
misuse of the provisions of law.” The good news is that these are ultimately
government employees; they are subject to a lot of rules and regulations. In the
words of the Home Ministry, “The police
must recognize that they are members of the public, with the only difference
that in the interest of the society and on its behalf they are employed to give
full time attention to duties, which are normally incumbent on every citizen to
perform.” In other word they are members
of the public and they have a job to do. That job is not to harass or
intimidate the public. If the harassment and intimidation get out of hand, you
can complain about the concerned officer to the Home Secretary or the DGP of
the state you live in. I agree that it is a little difficult to reach them, but
try. Persist. You will be able to gain access to them. Once you get an
appointment, be prepared to submit your complaint at the first meeting. These
men are IAS and IPS officers and in most cases, they are capable, decent
individuals. Make sure that you respect them and their time. They know about
the abuse that is going on.
At the cost of contradicting myself, I would like to add a
word of caution. I am a little disappointed with IPS officers too, but amongst
their tribe you will have a better chance of finding decent, honest people than
in subordinate ranks. Again, get the
women in your family to file the complaint, starting from the point when you
seek an appointment with the Home Secretary. Also, doors open easily for women.
A Few Suggestions On Filing Complaints.
• Be absolutely factual in your complaint. Do not add any
masala to your complaint. Stick to the facts. This is a complaint, not a novel.
• Do not attempt to settle scores with officers who treated
you decently, but were compelled to do their duty. If you do, in my eyes, you
are no different than your 498A wife.
• Before you meet high-ranking officers, write up the
complaint in a timeline or a sequence of events. Be as accurate as possible.
Get it reviewed by your lawyer. There will be a temptation to introduce
extraneous events into the complaint. Desist from doing so.
• When the machinery of the state moves to address your
complaint, it will place the burden of proof on you. Be prepared for the stress
that will follow. The inquiries can be taxing. Be patient. Action will be
taken. Copyright: ipc498A.wordpress.com 5/10 11/9/07
• Never put anything in your complaint that will damage your
credibility. The state is listening to you; don’t lie to it.
• If a complaint is investigated and found to be without
basis, doors will close on your face. Keep this in mind.
• Request the authorities to let you know the outcome of
their inquiry. Tell them you will exercise your right to information by filing
an RTI in a few months if this is not done. The outcome of the inquiry may be
helpful in winning your case. The Courts On Police Powers: The Supreme Court of
India, through its landmark judgments, has time and again signaled that the
police are not above the law and that a citizen has the rights that need to be
respected. Ensure that you have a copy of all these judgments with you in order
to have your rights respected. The police can be nailed on contempt of court if
they violate your Fundamental Rights. You can seek compensation for illegal
detention and/or torture. Another way to get the police from harassing you will
be to file what is known as a Writ Mandamus. Here is an explanation of Writ
Mandamus (S.M. Sharma Vs. Bipen Kumar Tiwari : (1970) 3 SCR 946), where in the
Court observed: "It appears to us that, though the Code of Criminal
Procedure gives to the police unfettered power to investigate all cases where
they suspect that a cognizable offence has been committed, in appropriate cases
an aggrieved person can always seek a remedy by invoking the power of the High
Court under Article 226 of the Constitution under which, if the High Court
could be convinced that the power of investigation has been exercised by a
police officer mala fide, the High Court can always issue a writ of mandamus
restraining the police officer from misusing his legal power.” The Lawyers: Lawyers make the difference between winning and
losing your case. You must look for a lawyer who is smart, competent and has
integrity. Integrity is of primary importance. Some lawyers in India have been
selling their clients out. Never go for one who advises you to compromise. I
had two of my friends who were burned by this. If any of these lawyers say
compromise, think about their motives. Try to find a lawyer who is an insider.
Make sure that it is someone who knows the court system and its’ internal workings. Do your research. Mynation.net has a list of
good lawyers. Look it up for reference. Talk to others who have been through a
498A. Interview several of them. Don’t hire the first lawyer who you meet. Here
is a hint. Go with the one who gives you the brutal truth. You are looking for
a awyer, not a therapist.
My lawyers turned to be the brothers I never had. They
fought to get my family out under very adverse conditions, which included
harassment by the police, a corrupt magistrate who would ignore their pleadings
and above all, physical discomfort. They wore the same clothing for a period of
several days attempting to bail my family out. They knew the laws, they knew
the loopholes and they finally succeeded in getting my family out. Yes, they were
expensive, but they didn’t betray us in spite of my father in law offering them
monetary incentives to suspend their efforts to bail my family out. These are
the kind of lawyers you would ideally want to be on your side.
Approaching The Courts: When a 498A is filed, the first
impulse will be to run to the courts with a quash petition. You are convinced
about your innocence and you are sure that the courts will exonerate you. The
process is slow. Be prepared for disappointment. The courts do not like to
quash cases in the investigation phase unless there are extenuating circumstances.
All the same, be careful about how you draft the petition. Prepare a
comprehensive and logical petition. Walk in with your eyes wide open. Know the
attitude of the judge on the bench that deals with 498A. If you are heading to
the court of a great judge like Justice Shiv Narain Dhingra, you will be fine.
Otherwise, back off and think of alternatives. Judges in the lower judiciary
are humans with the same failings though they are held to a higher standard in
theory. The former Chief Justice P N Bhagwati had said: ‘‘Judges should not use
strong and carping language while criticizing the conduct of parties or their
witnesses. They must act with sobriety, moderation and restraint. They must
have the humility to recognize that they are not infallible”. Copyright: ipc498A.wordpress.com 6/10 11/9/07
That is all I am willing to say. However, please check what
the former President Of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, has to say about the
Judiciary: “Our society is going through unique dynamics due to the shortage of
leadership with nobility. The only hope the nation cherishes and looks to is
the judiciary with its excellence and impeccable integrity... This casts a very
heavy responsibility on the entire judicial system to live up to the
expectations reposed in it and to maintain the sacred aura attached to it
unsullied. Qualities of honesty and integrity are synonymous with each member
of the judicial system” The courts know about the abuse of this law. Here is a
small sampling of what they have said in some judgments and bail orders:
• While on this issue, it is necessary to take notice of a
growing tendency in business circles to convert purely civil disputes into
criminal cases. This is obviously on account of a prevalent impression that
civil law remedies are time consuming and do not adequately protects the
interests of lenders/creditors. Such a tendency is seen in several family
disputes also, leading to irretrievable break down of marriages/families. There
is also an impression that if a person could somehow be entangled in a criminal
prosecution, there is a likelihood of imminent settlement. Any effort to settle
civil disputes and claims, which do not involve any criminal offence, by
applying pressure though criminal prosecution should be deprecated and
discouraged.
-Supreme Court, Indian Oil Corporation Vs NEPC India Ltd.,
& Ors., 20/07/2006
• The criminal case against her in which she was accused was
compounded by the petitioner on the basis of compromise. She is living with her
husband. She wants to use criminal justice as a tool against the petitioners who
are her sister-in-laws and mother-in-law. She wants to enjoy the company of the
husband keeping other relatives on tenterhooks. -Delhi HC, Crl. M.C. No. 8188-90/2006,
28.03.2007
• There is no reference to the dowry articles in the
complaint. No particulars of dowry have been given. The complaint is full of
character assassination of the husband and his family. -Delhi HC, Bail Application No.1638/2005,
26/07/2005 Consequences For Filing A
False 498A:
There is a lot written about 498A, but nothing is said about
the consequences for the filers of a false 498A. The filers of false 498As do
so out of malice or bad advice, but they are not informed of the
consequences. When a person is married
for the first time, there is an innocence that goes into the relationship. This
innocence is the bedrock of trust in the relationship of being man and wife.
The margin of error and security is greater in a first marriage, especially for
women. There may be a mistaken belief that after filing a frivolous criminal
case against the husband, the woman may get her revenge or settlement and move
on to a divorce and a second marriage and live a “happy married life”. The fact
of the matter is that the innocence is lost and with it will go a lot of other
intangible things in life, such as trust, which can make a married life a
blessing. Being burned once, the element of distrust in the second marriage
will be greater. And in order to make things work, there will be a greater
pressure to conform or adjust. The margin for error for the woman will also go
down considerably in a second marriage. I
am not saying that a second chance at marriage is a bad thing nor am I
attempting to judge people who get married the second time. I am talking about
the situation that the dear 498A wives with their silly temperaments will potentially
find themselves in if they take the path of frivolous lawsuits. This time,
filing a 498A to get out will not work, as the woman will be branded an abuser
of the law. There are always exceptions to what I have described. But the
outline holds true.
The 498A wives, blinded by anger and greed, may want to
think twice about what they want to put on their profiles at matrimonial sites,
before filing frivolous cases. Would they be willing to mention that they filed
a false 498A? Why not? How many men will respond to such ads if they do? What
makes them think that they’ll succeed at a second marriage when they couldn’t
make the first work? And have they considered the time a court case can take to
complete? The best source to know more
about the consequences of filing a false case is the document by Madhu Purnima Kishwar
(http://tinyurl.com/2rbmxs). She is a respected fighter for women’s rights,
unlike the radical feminists of India, and I think you need to read what she
has to say. Copyright:
ipc498A.wordpress.com 7/10 11/9/07 I’ve
put together a few points of my own:
• Divorce after a 498A is guaranteed. 498A is a nuclear
weapon for relationships. Once it is used, it ends everything good in a
relationship. Lately, there has been a trend where women are coming back to
their husbands after realizing the mistake they made by resorting to 498A.
• She won’t get married again. The reason being our very
conservative society. Feminism and standing up for women’s rights may be a
fashionable thing to bandy about, but no family, including the family of the
false filer of a 498A or the staunchest feminist, would like to admit one of
these false 498A filers into their homes. This is all about power politics in
relationships and once it is known that a woman had filed a false 498A, she will
be treated like radioactive material.
• Her sister(s) may eventually run off with the milkman or
something along similar lines may happen as they risk remaining spinsters.
• Any sisters-in-law she may have will turn against her as
time goes by. Her brothers may not get married again. Think about this. Would
you be willing to send your sister/daughter into a home where there is woman
who has quarreled with a decent husband and used the law to terrorize him and
his family? How happy would your sister/daughter be in a home like that? How
secure would a family feel, if the sister of the woman who filed a false 498A
enters the house as a bride? It also says a lot about that family that they did
not discourage her from doing so.
• The filer of a false 498A may face arrest under Section
182. The sentence may be range up to 6 months and a fine or both.
• If children are involved, their development will be
threatened as fathers play a crucial role in the up bringing of a child. There
is also a chance for the 498A filer to start having affairs and neglect the
children. There are instances where this is happening.
• If the 498A is being filed at the instigation of close
relatives and for no valid justification, be sure of this, once the relatives
get what they want, they will abandon the 498A wife.
• In the case of a woman who files a 498A just to extort
cash, or harass her husband and his family, there is a certain disdain with
which she will be treated by her family and society, especially if the plan
backfires.
• If the 498A is being filed at the instigation of close
relatives, and if they do succeed in extorting money from the husband, once the
lawyer, the parents and everyone else gets a cut, they are going to abandon the
woman.
• The 498A wives may want to read this article from the
LATimes (http://tinyurl.com/2oqllg) to understand how divorce affects the
finances of women.
• None of us likes to be alone and even the strongest
amongst us will feel pangs of loneliness. I believe that men are better
equipped to deal with loneliness due to biological factors. It is a completely
different issue for the 498A Wives. They are condemned to live alone. They had
it all and they blew it and they know it.
• Keep an eye out on the matrimonial sites. You may just end
up on the floor with laughter. Some
Statistics:
These are statistics are from a memorandum submitted by
Rakshak to the MOIA on July 17th 2007. These stats were obtained by means of an
RTI from the home ministry. As you can see, there are close to 5lakhs people
who are undergoing trial and each year it just gets worse. The latest numbers
are from 2005.
Year Total No. Of Persons
under Trial including those from previous year Cases Compounded or Withdrawn Trial
Completed Trial Pending No. of Persons Convicted % Trial remained Pending Convicted
To Trials Completed2005 573881 13447 74496 485938 14583 84.7 19.6 2004 537137 13717
71192 452228 14706 84.2 20.7 2003 500166 11229 70167 418770 12558 83.7 17.9
Amendments To 498A: The statistics give you an idea about
how widespread is the abuse of this law. SIF and other groups are pushing for
the amendment to 498A. I don’t see this happening for a while, as the
entrenched interests are too powerful to stop this from happening. My personal
belief is that the laws “to protect women” must be made more stringent and
easier to abuse. A more people get entangled in this mess, the pain would bring
the anger to boil. A good step in this direction would be to pass the sexual
harassment bill in the form pushed by women’s groups. The hormone driven BPO
call centers will be the first place where trouble will start. This will cause
more people to get entangled in gender-biased laws and the resulting anger and
plunge in productivity will highlight the idiocy of these laws faster. The fun
will start after the business community gets into the fight. The moment the
word “amendment” is uttered, there will be scores of radical feminist groups
and other organizations such as CSR, AIDWA, etc, taking to the streets to
prevent any kind of a discussion from taking place. The law making bodies must
have the courage to face them down. These groups do not represent the true
voice of the women of India. If 498A is
to be amended, it must be made bail able to eliminate harassment by the police
and end the jailing of innocents. It should never be made compoundable. If it
is made compoundable and not bail able, the extortion racket will continue as
before as nothing really changes as the courts are allowing the withdrawal of
the cases anyway. The brides of today
will be the mothers in law of tomorrow. I wonder how many of these 498A abusing
brides may suffer the same fate as their mothers in law if they are unfortunate
enough to have a daughter in law who shares their temperament and attitude
towards life. Would they still be opposed to the amendment to 498A then?
Conclusion: IPC 498A
was introduced to protect women. It has morphed into an extortion racket. In
the name of protecting women, the establishment sends semi skilled laborers in
uniform into our homes to extort money, all on the basis of an allegation. Any
attempt to amend the law is resisted by entrenched interests and radical
feminists, whose existence is threatened if they are perceived as being soft on
this issue. They need this misery to continue to justify their existence. 498A
is now being used as a wedge between men and women for narrow political
purposes. The division of our country along the lines of religion, caste and
language is over. The division along the lines of gender has started. There is no civilized country on this planet
that allows a blood relative of a male to be arrested on the basis of a complaint.
The promoters and defenders of idiotic laws like 498A also need to understand
that they will fail in their perverted purpose eventually. Radical feminism, as
a movement has failed wherever it has raised its ugly head. It has succeeded in
lowering the status of women in all the places it has been. I predict the same
fate for it in India, though it will take time. The women who are the real
victims can’t get justice as the courts are clogged with the false cases filed
by the 498A wives and there are so many frivolous cases being filed, that the
police don’t take the real victims seriously. The police are so used to making
money off 498A cases, that they won’t even pursue the case unless they are
bribed or promised a cut in the settlement.
Finally, in all this insanity, the question I would like to ask is, what
does one hope to achieve by enacting a law like 498A? It has failed in its
stated purpose. Torture by the Indian
police, be it mental or physical is ILLEGAL. They cannot extract a confession
from you by force. That is ILLEGAL. Stand up to the corrupt officers of the
Indian police! You are backed by the
weight and might of the Supreme Court Of India. The judgments stand as
testimony to this.
A Little About Me: I am just a regular guy that got
entangled in this mess. I think you know me by now and there is not a lot to
say. I made a mistake and that was
getting married to this Indian woman. I was divorced years ago and the 498A was
filed years after my last meeting with her. I escaped arrest, as I was not at
home. But the police got their hands on my family. They were terrorized to
reveal my whereabouts, to confess and to pay up. The demand was 40Lakhs, put
forth by the Indian police. After being subjected to sheer terror for months,
my family acted and eliminated the police as a factor. If I had known about our basic rights and
the powers of the police, a lot of unnecessary suffering on their part could have
been avoided. This remains my regret. The suffering undergone by my family
drives me to educate you about your rights so that you can avoid what my family
was put through. I’ve spent every spare hour of each one of my days, since the
day my family was arrested, reading, researching, and putting all this together
so that you can understand what 498A is all about. I hope that you will avoid
the terror that the police will unleash on you and come out a winner. I can’t
counsel you or provide legal advice so don’t ask. For that, you need to contact
the volunteers of Save Indian Family or educate yourself like I did, or talk to
a good lawyer. Never forget this. This game is played to break you down and get
you to give in. I experienced this first hand. I was in tears while they had my
family in custody. My parents are 65+ and frail. There was nothing I could do
except give in or hold firm and ensure that retribution follows. You know the
choice I made. Stay strong and be calm. You will win. I dedicate this to my
family. They willingly faced extraordinary hardship and sheer terror, but
didn’t surrender to the police. On account of their sacrifice, I didn’t lose
all that I’ve worked for. I leave you
with the 3rd sloka from the 2nd Chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita. To truly
understand this sloka, please read the version of the Bhagavad-Gita authored by
Swami Ranganathananda. It is in three volumes and worth owning.
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