When husbands also need protection from the dowry act...
By Rupsa Chakraborty
The Indian Judicial system formulated the Dowry Prohibition Act to rescue helpless wives suffering in the hands of their vicious in laws. One did not anticipate a scenario in which women would exploit this law to extort money from their husbands by levelling false charges of dowry harassment.
Take the case of one of our respondents from Hyderabad who paid 23 lakhs as bribe to his ex-wife and police to save his reputation. He along with his family members was imprisoned for 6 hours under false dowry charge. The police of Kukatpally Housing Board Colony police along with the wife’s family initially charged 50 lakhs to solve the case mutually. They settled the matter by accepting 23 lakhs. His repeated complaints to government officials fell on deaf years.
In another case, a victimized husband from New Delhi was fighting a dowry case registered by his wife. He tried to convince the judge with all the proof but they wanted money to solve the case. He was forced by the court to pay the bribe of 13 lakhs. He wrote on our site, “A true Indian who believes that things will change and India will be a better place but we just need to change our mentality.”
Sometimes these kinds of harassment force husbands to commit suicide. According to a report of www.saveindianfamily.org, “One married man commits suicide every nine minutes.”
“If a woman files a case under IPC Section 498A, the laws totally go against the husband. Before the trial itself, husbands are declared guilty. The laws also need to protect men,” says Vivek Deveshwar, a member of Centre for Men’s Rights.
“It has become an instrument of terror.” he adds.