Section 498-A

[fineleg]

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jun/02bsp.htm All that shines is not Silicon B S Prakash | June 02, 2008 | 13:10 IST All happy marriages are alike. Each separation is messy in its own way,' Tolstoy may have said in a slight variation of his famous line. It is a part of my job, a small, but a painful part, to meet with Indians abroad with serious marital discords and I have done this in different parts of the world. There is not much that one can do, but a few things that sometimes one has to do -- legal notices or court summons, issues about passports and documents, child custody cases etc -- where the intensely personal gets entangled with the official. One day, I got an e-mail rather than a letter -- true to the Silicon Valley spirit -- from an Indian, let us call him Shankar (all names and characteristics changed for obvious reasons) wanting to see me on a strictly private matter. The e-mail said he worked at Google and wanted an appointment on a Tuesday afternoon, when he could take some time off to visit me in the consulate. Guys and gals in Google are almost by definition young and very bright, and I was curious. The 'private' in the mail suggested marital problems, as it was unlikely that for someone from such a company, it would be a financial or a criminal issue. Shankar, when he arrived appeared truly distraught. He looked incredibly young, handsome despite his dishevelled look, and pleasant and polite in his demeanour. "I have a serious problem, Sir, it relates to dowry," he said after he had told me his background, which was fairly typical. The only son of a mathematics teacher in a district town in Karnataka, he had done engineering and then a MS in America. He had worked for one or two companies in Texas, but had come to Silicon Valley with a challenging job with Google. My first instinct was to think that this related to his sister, back in India. May be, he was being asked to cough up large amounts of dowry for his sister, given his Google status; may be he was being offered a huge sum by a prospective father-in-law and he was reluctant -- for he didn't appear to be the dowry demanding type, though I knew that anything was possible. Problems of brides or young wives are indeed the majority of the cases that come to a consulate; dowry demands are a major cause of harassment or abuse leading to breakdowns. "Where exactly do we come in?" I thought and asked him as much, nicely. Demanding dowry is an official offence, of course, but from afar, how exactly to intervene? "Sir, my mother is dying, but, I am afraid to go back to India to visit her. They may arrest me. I just don't know what to do. My wife's family are hell bent on taking revenge," he said virtually sobbing. "I am a 498-A case Sir," he confided as though that formula would reveal everything to me. I was dumbfounded. In my job, I have seen many women in heart rending distress -- abandoned abroad by husbands with fake or fraudulent marriages, others battered and so badly traumatised that they have to be repatriated, and other variants of cruelty, deceit and worse. Indeed, such cases are typical, but this one did not appear to be. It seemed to be the other side of the equation, a young man in great anguish, an unintended victim of a system that was primarily trying to address the vulnerability of women abused, tormented, or even killed by the dowry demanders. I am yet to tell you Shankar's sad story. But first let me tell you that it is not one individual's story. There are perhaps hundreds in Silicon Valley living this tale. I must emphasise, however, that there are thousands living the story of the standard paradigm --harassing the girl's family. Shankar was not doing that, of that I am convinced, having come to know him. Here is this phenomenon, which demands to be better known. But before coming to Shankar's specific story, let me broaden it to create a general profile using the many examples that I now know of such cases. Let us start with a young engineer working at Google or Intel or Microsoft and putting in 12 hour work days. He is an ace in what he does with his computer. And does very little besides that. Working at a prestigious company with a sizable pay packet, he goes home, on a three week vacation, but also with the intention to get married. He has a great job, is already 29, but living in San Jose, has little time or talent to date girls. Besides, he wants a good, traditional South Indian wife. When he reaches home, his parents have already lined up five girls for him to see. A short list since after all he has only three weeks. The girls are all pretty, 'from good families', well educated in the fancy schools and colleges, and are really smart. They have their own dreams and aspirations, will not marry just anyone, some are already professionals too, but the visitor after all, is what he is -- an upwardly mobile suitable boy. The marriage is swift, all finalised in one week, but lavish. Soon thereafter our young groom is back at his work, at his computer, and in his lonely flat. The newly wedded wife follows a few months later; they are lucky to have got the visa so fast, unlike some others who have to languish at home for years. Life in America, in Silicon Valley, does not turn out to be what the girl had dreamt it to be. She is herself a M Sc in bio-chemistry, or a programmer, but cannot get a job in America, with her dependent H-4 visa status. The husband is out of the house at seven in the morning and the young wife is terribly lonely and bored to death in the apartment block with no friendly neighbours, no relatives, and no excitement. She had so much fun in college, hanging out with her friends at Cafe Coffee Dday in her city, they had so many places to go to and people to visit, but here in Silicon Valley, all that is missing. The husband when he comes home and on weekends is very sweet, but not terribly romantic. There can be -- and there usually are -- other complications in my painted profile. The boy's elderly parents may stay or come to visit them and put additional strain on the couple with their strict conservative habits. They too are lonely in America and frictions may get compounded. The boy himself may be a social nerd or a religious zealot and the independent minded girl may feel hopelessly stifled. The girl may want to work, but the boy is content with a cook. But you don't need complications. It is the law of nature and statistics that certain percentage of all marriages are bound to be problematic. The high expectations and low returns in these cases only accentuate them. To fast forward this sad story, a time comes when the girl returns to India. She is frustrated and embittered, but there is serious loss of face, as well. Here comes a twist, which brings us back to Shankar's story. With all good intentions, we have the law in India under which if a girl or her family claims that they are harassed with dowry demands, before or after marriage, it becomes a cognisable offence. Once the case is registered with the police, there is a prima facie assumption of guilt on the part of the boy or his family. The case may or may not go to the court, most often the parties come to an out-of-the court-settlement, but the agony starts. The objective of the law is to give protection to weak and vulnerable women by invoking the fear of this law as a deterrent. But as Shankar's story illustrates there are now a number of cases with unintended consequences: Where this provision is used as an instrument for pressure, settlement or merely as face saving in cases of broken marriages. The results are traumatic particularly when the two young partners find themselves in two different countries, sometimes with a child being fought over for custody, sometimes with elderly parents too victimised in the battle. In Shankar's case his fear is that he may get hauled up the moment he reaches Bangalore to visit his ailing mother, as his wife's family had filed 498-A against him and his parents. The awareness of such problems is growing in India and in America too, though we have a long way to go in finding remedies. I must emphasise once again that in no way are such examples reflective of the majority of cases where the woman is the victim, nor do they in any way detract from the very real problem of dowry demands. But life is far more complex than the categories under the law, and we cannot shut our eyes to the peculiarities and specificities of the splitting up in Silicon Valley. The moral of the story? At one level, the recognition of complexity. Another lesson -- not to rush into marriages with visiting NRIs, not to marry in a hurry to repent in leisure. All that shines is not Silicon, as we are discovering. B S Prakash is India's Consul General in San Francisco

[Desi Cartman]

he wrote the entire mahabharta ... Im glad he tried to make the "long story short" :hmmmm2:

[THX_1138]

True... the law is intended to act as a deterant, and there have been numerous cases of its abuse. As an actuary, i am tempted to evaluate the "expected value" of the law... i.e. number of lives rescued vs. the number ruined by false accusations. The Law, and this is a purely intuitive guess, would indicate that it ha been overwhelmingly successful. However, the law is not intended to work in a manner where we juxtaposition the successful convictions of the guilty versus the innocent people harmed; a single innocent life ruined is a travesty just as singificant as the success of the law. It needs review, and we must as a society embrace the concept of innocent unless proven guilty. Furthermore, we must extend this approach to all the dragoonian laws imposed under the ruse of "terrorism" to combat oppression by the state. However, i do not really have a constructive crticism at the moment, or a suggestion of how the situation can be remedied.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Your intuiition notwithstanding; 85% of dowry cases in state of Bihar turned out fake harassment case. Not sure about other states.. What irks me us;if it's a law that the momnet a case gets registered husband and his parents even grand-parents in fact anyone wife names in FIR goes behind bars then why was exception made in case of HRD minister Arjun Singh when his grand daughter-in-law registered a case against him related to dowry harassment.. On that ocassion women welfare minister renuka chaudhary came on tv, chiming that the minster was innocent.. Innocent/guilty should have been decided later, first he sud have gone behind bars like any other person faced with similar charge..

[Lurker]

I see the author's viewpoint but I am not sure what working in Google or being an NRI has to do with it. Is it bad for a Google-working-person to get caught in this mess and okay for some lowly paanwallah?? Coming to the topic yes it does happen quite common these days. In most of such cases it is the work of the girl or their parents to make life difficult for guy and his family. I have seen one such case amongst my relatives. The guy, quite decent one, got hit by a dowry case because his wife basically wanted out of the marriage. Fair enough but why not do it the right legal way? So she does a court case and Indian law being linient towards women issues warrant(non-bailable) etc etc. What eventually worked in this case was a) the family was able to get a good lawyer. b) More importantly the family was able to contact local Don who made amply sure that if the boy or his family spent a day behind bars someone would have to pay dearly for it. xxx

[flamy]

I see the author's viewpoint but I am not sure what working in Google or being an NRI has to do with it. Is it bad for a Google-working-person to get caught in this mess and okay for some lowly paanwallah?? Coming to the topic yes it does happen quite common these days. In most of such cases it is the work of the girl or their parents to make life difficult for guy and his family. I have seen one such case amongst my relatives. The guy, quite decent one, got hit by a dowry case because his wife basically wanted out of the marriage. Fair enough but why not do it the right legal way? So she does a court case and Indian law being linient towards women issues warrant(non-bailable) etc etc. What eventually worked in this case was a) the family was able to get a good lawyer. b) More importantly the family was able to contact local Don who made amply sure that if the boy or his family spent a day behind bars someone would have to pay dearly for it. xxx

Now there's value for money! :two_thumbs_up: This is the same shith with false r-ape accusations too. Somehow, girls are all in white, and boys are all in black. And then they say all are equal. Then confuse "equality" with "sameness". Feminazis. :hatsoff:

[triam]

Renuka chaudhary is a big time bi@tch.

[flamy]

Renuka chaudhary is a big time bi@tch.

[THX_1138]

Your intuiition notwithstanding; 85% of dowry cases in state of Bihar turned out fake harassment case. Not sure about other states.. What irks me us;if it's a law that the momnet a case gets registered husband and his parents even grand-parents in fact anyone wife names in FIR goes behind bars then why was exception made in case of HRD minister Arjun Singh when his grand daughter-in-law registered a case against him related to dowry harassment.. On that ocassion women welfare minister renuka chaudhary came on tv, chiming that the minster was innocent.. Innocent/guilty should have been decided later, first he sud have gone behind bars like any other person faced with similar charge..

Source? Invalid claim without a source...

[THX_1138]

Your intuiition notwithstanding; 85% of dowry cases in state of Bihar turned out fake harassment case. Not sure about other states.. What irks me us;if it's a law that the momnet a case gets registered husband and his parents even grand-parents in fact anyone wife names in FIR goes behind bars then why was exception made in case of HRD minister Arjun Singh when his grand daughter-in-law registered a case against him related to dowry harassment.. On that ocassion women welfare minister renuka chaudhary came on tv, chiming that the minster was innocent.. Innocent/guilty should have been decided later, first he sud have gone behind bars like any other person faced with similar charge..

guilty or not, there is no reason why anyone must go behind bars at the first allegation of a crime. unless there is credible evidence that the party arrested is indeed guilty and the magistrate is satisfied that the police and the people's prosecutor's office have enough ammunition for a trial and a possible conviction, the moduls operandi is that the accused has an FIR registered against them. thereafter, imprisonment in contingent on the outcome of the trial... any other deviation is a travesty and you are indeed accurate in pointing out the hypocricy of the law where the ordinary man upon accusation is placed under arrest, however a well connected and highly placed government official is not subject to the same. nonetheless, i would rather that they remove the "automatic imprisonment" clause rather than incarcerate arjun singh; especially since an incarcerated HRD minister will put the brakes on the country's operation.

[fineleg]

guilty or not' date=' [b']there is no reason why anyone must go behind bars at the first allegation of a crime.

correct

[Guest dada_rocks]

My point is if u have some legislation howsoever crual then why make an excpetion when it comes to minister and then have the audacity to justifiy it .. that's what precisely was done by congressi minister renuka chaudhary..

[Guest dada_rocks]

There are minister of state for each minsitry and they wud be more than ready to step in .. moreover what exactly these suckers do anyway.. bureucrats run the show it hardly matters who name appears on the seal..

[THX_1138]

Arjun Singh is certainly no blue eyed boy, but nonetheless, an HRD ministry without its signatory head is indeed handicapped. An interim minister does not have the same constitutional power as the original nominee for the post. Furthermore, let me emphasise this once again: "incarcerating people at the first allegation is a considerable travesty of justice. maintaining a consistency in this standard of poor law enforcement, i.e. throwing Arjun Singh in prison because he too must be subjected to the same travesty, is not a step in the right direction, it is just that: injustice. we are not judging Arjun Singh for the myraids of crimes he might otherwise be guilty or have been convicted of... we are imprisoning him for a crime he has 'allegedly' committed. in my book, that is not enough to imprison anyone, even if the accused is benito mussolini. find him guilty or set him free... and then move to ammend the law by removing the clause that permits the automatic imprisonment of the accused since it is not justice, it is heresy! they tried something like this back in spain during the inquisition, and history is testament to the attrocities that followed!" p.s. nonetheless, the efficiency of this law has not yet been adequately questioned. DR, could you please dig up the source that you used for the "85% misconvictions" statement. if it indeed is true, its time that this law was discarded. actually is way past that time, its time that the supporters of this law be brought before a committee!

[THX_1138]

Any ministry WITH such haramis as Arjun Singh is a big slap on the concept of Democracy and its values .... these guys are sooo shrewd and cunning that they find ways to legalise their corrupt and utterly despicable way of life. If you ever wanted to meet a utterly valueless and despicable human being then look no further than these guys ... its a great shame that our system allows these mofos to contest elections in the first place and worse put them in a position of complete and almost unquestioned power. Do you think there is anybody in India that has the guts to even file a lawsuit against this guy ( and his illk ) ? let alone lauch a impartial criminal investigation and trial ?

well then dont elect him...

[fineleg]

New Mod Adi is going to step in for language control :D

[THX_1138]

i mean cucumber...

[beetle]

guilty or not' date=' there is no reason why anyone must go behind bars at the first allegation of a crime.[/quote'] There was some news about a review of this law to take care of this "throw behind bars at the first allegation" problem. If proven that the allegations are untrue and meant only to harass ,then the woman should be punished for not only harassing and false allegations but also for misusing a law meant for the most helpless of women and for giving it a bad name.

[Guest dada_rocks]

There was some news about a review of this law to take care of this "throw behind bars at the first allegation" problem. If proven that the allegations are untrue and meant only to harass ,then the woman should be punished for not only harassing and false allegations but also for misusing a law meant for the most helpless of women and for giving it a bad name.

That would be a welcome change.. they should make sure the woman goes behind bars and foots the court bill of both party.. then we will see those fake allegations dropping down like pakistani middle order

[beetle]

They have to be careful with this one..... On the one hand ,it is ahighly abused law...on the other hand it does offer hope to millions of women who are mercilessly abused both emotionally and physically for dowry. What they have to do away with is the "arrest the entire family immediatly bit"....and get a magistrate in the picture to check the allegations. If they remove the law that reqires immediate arrest,then they should make some provision to ensure the safety of the women making the allegations.