Supreme Court Modifies Its Previous order on Dowry Harassment (498 A)-Updated Dowry Anti Law 2018

Hello friends, today I will talk about, the recent Supreme Court Judgement in relation to dowry harassment 498A. Now according to the recent judgements of the honourable Supreme Court, there will be an immediate arrest in dowry harassment (498A) and ¾ dowry prohibitions Act 1961. Today the Honourable Supreme Court has decided that immediate arrest will be done in dowry harassment after lodged an FIR. The Supreme Court has amended its previous order regarding the report of the Family Welfare Committee and the stay which was stopped on immediate arrest has been removed. In the case of dowry harassment, the protection received from the immediate arrest of a husband and his family relatives has been abolished. To prevent this judgement law, the Supreme Court has amended its former order. Now enquiry the complaints of dowry harassment which was done by the Family Welfare Committee and till then, there was a ban on arresting of the investigation; It has been modified by the Supreme Court. That is, now if the police get enough evidence of arrest, then he can arrest the accused without referring the matter to the Family Welfare Committee. The court has also alerted the police that the accused should be arrested only on the basis of the evidence required. If there will be enough evidence for arrest then go for arrest. With this regard; the Hon'ble Supreme Court has directed that the accused will have the option of anticipatory bail. A three-member bench of Chief Justice, Deepak Mishra, AM Khanvilkar and D.V. Chandrachud gave this ruling and amended the last year 2017, on 23 July judgement.

Supreme Court Modifies Its Previous order on Dowry Harassment (498 A)

The honourable court amended the earlier order, said that order to set up a family welfare committee is not appropriate. The court clarified that the legislature has made Section 498A a cognizable crime and non-bailable offence. The Supreme Court has directed instant arresting in its judgement. The Hon'ble Court has also directed to abide by the provisions of Section 41 and 41A of the CrPC while pursuing the arresting of the accused in dowry cases 498A. The provisions of CrPC section 41 and 41A provides guidelines for the arrest by the police, only those cases where there is strong evidence in the cases of punishable for up to 7 years, for example, the police is calling the accused by the notice but the accused no coming to the notice, the court has specified the date and the accused no coming for date and it is high possibility of accused to run away from the court jurisdiction etc.

Old Order of Honorable Supreme Court (27 July 2017):

Justice Adarsh Kumar Goyal (now Retired) and UU Lalit's Bench had issued several guidelines to prevent misuse of Section 498A of dowry harassment on July 27, 2017. The court had said-

The District Legal Services Authority will constitute the Family Welfare Committee in each district, which will try to get the agreement by calling husband and wife in the lawsuits of Section 498A.

Family Welfare Committee will present a report in a month.

All complaints received by the Magistrate or the police under section 498A will be sent to the committee for enquiry.

Until the report of the Welfare Committee, in the cases of dowry, the accused will not be arrested.

In the condition of a settlement between the parties, the District and Sessions Judge can end criminal proceedings.

The dowry is given to the boy's side by the girl side cannot be a ground for denying bail with regard to his recovery right.

Let's know section 498A, what is section 498A-

Regarding cruelty by husband or husband's relatives (Section 498A):

Anyone who is relative to the husband or husband of any woman, who will keep such a woman subject to cruelty, will be punished with imprisonment for up to 3 years and will also be punished with fines.

The explanation-

This section means cruelty as-

Any deliberate behaviour that is of this nature that it will likely lead to the woman committing suicide, whether it is mental or physical, whether it is serious or its life, organ or health or

Harassing the woman where she is being harassed from this point of view, harassment for the fulfilment of a demand against a property or valuable securities.

In simple words, if Section 498A IPC is specifically found in two cases

Harassment of dowry by the husbands or relative of husbands of a woman, where dowry is demanded with regard to dowry demands abuse, assault, the threat of death, etc. are done by the defendant. Or

Where dowry demand does not exist but mental and physical torture is done by the husband and relative of the husband.

Conclusion:

There is no doubt that false allegations under section 498A were registered so that the Honourable Supreme Court had banned the arrest immediately in the earlier order and also gave the husband-wife an opportunity to compromise. The first judgement of Hon'ble Supreme Court was very commendable because after the registration of the fir, the matter is transferred to the Family Welfare Committee and the Family Welfare Committee was given the opportunity to settle the mutual agreement between husband-wife. There was an opportunity to reduce the distance to bring the family together. If the agreement was successful then the final report on the basis of agreement on the matter by the Police Investigator was forwarded to the Honourable Court. There was no arrest by the police when the matter is being considered in the family welfare.

The Hon'ble Supreme Court has amended its earlier order and has made provision for immediate arrest in the cases of dowry harassment.

The Honourable Court has clarified that before arresting of the accused, arrests should be made pursuing the provisions of section 41 and 41A of the CrPC. The Honourable Court also made it clear that the accused may get interim bail.

It can be concluded that in the Supreme Court's judgement before the arrest of the accused, police will have to comply with Section 41 and 41A of the CrPC, which provides that there is sufficient basis for the arrest of those convicted in less than 7 years of litigation. The accused may also get interim bail. To prevent false cases, the Supreme Court has not given any clear explanation in the recent verdict. Most of the spouse's matter was compromised in the women cell or the family welfare committee. Due to this Judgement, the culprits will be punished quickly but innocent people will also face trouble due to immediate arrest because most of the cases of dowry are false. But in reality, the disputes reason in husband-wife would have been different but in the complaint, the demand of dowry is written.

See what results come in the dowry cases after this judgement, the number of false cases is increased or the number of convicts gets punished.

hope You liked the article.

2 Comments

Motivation वाले Bhaiya18 September 2018 at 09:04
Very nice post...
Motivation वाले Bhaiya18 September 2018 at 09:37
Very nice post sir...

I'm certainly not an expert, but I' ll try my hardest to explain what I do know and research what I don't know.

Please do not spam comment.

Supreme Court Modifies Its Previous order on Dowry Harassment (498 A)-Updated Dowry Anti Law 2018