Dowry is a social stigma in the society that has caused tremendous
tortures and crimes towards women. In India, the payment of a dowry (dahej)
was prohibited in 1961under the Indian civil law and subsequently by
Sections 304B and 498A of the Indian Penal Code were enacted to make it
easier for the wife to seek justice and redressal from potential harassment
by the husband's family. The IPC makes the crime non-bailable, which means
that the accused husband or family member cannot get a bail once arrested
by the police.
The Dowry Prohibition Act has been in place in India since 1961 and under
the Dowry Prohibition Act, any act to take or give dowry is punishable in
India. The punishment for violating the anti-dowry law is imprisonment for
up to 5 years and fine or the value of dowry given, whichever is more.
Any woman who is a victim of dowry in India must talk to a dowry lawyer
to take appropriate legal action against her husband or his family members.
Misuse of anti-dowry law to blackmail husband has become a common practice.
The number of false 498A cases or cases of misuse of anti-dowry laws has even
made the Supreme Court of India to term it as ‘legal terrorism’.
The biased nature of this law has enabled women to file a false case against
their husbands for reasons such as:
❖ To get out of the marriage due to her inability to adjust to the new family.
❖ Blackmailing the husband so as to extort money.
❖
To implicate the husband in a false case and revive the relationship
with a man she was previously associated with or got into an extra-marital affair
with.
In case of misuse of the anti-dowry law by the wife, the husband must consult a
dowry lawyer to know the correct legal action to take against his wife.
We at Confluence Legal are here to help you to Fight for Your Right.
In India anyone accused of taking dowry is therefore subject to a multiplicity
of legal processes. Similarly on the other hand wrongly accusing of taking dowry
is equally illegal before the law in INDIA.