This article has been written by Ms. Nandhini Sasikumar, a 3rd year of BA LLB Student from The Central Law College, Salem.
INTRODUCTION:
When a woman marries, she enters in a new world altogether and often has so many expectations from her new phase of life. Everyone wants her life to be happy one. A woman plays so many important roles in and during her lifetime as of a wife, a mother, a daughter in law and a number of other roles too. In my opinion every woman deserves a dignified life but unfortunately all this remains a dream for many women after they get married due to the reason that one of the social evils of the society. The demand for dowry haunts them, primarily in the initial phase of their married life and this is all because of the greed of the family of the groom that they relatively get cruel as a result women across the country had to face physical and mental agony due to the social evil of dowry and in many cases deaths are recorded in connection of dowry which are technically called or known as DOWRY DEATH and dowry death is also a punishable offence under section 304B of the Indian Penal Code 1860.
Dowry is often treated as gift from the side of the bride to the groom as a token of respect for the status of the groom and his family, which is not at all true and justified. Dowry in real sense means the amount of money or an asset or any property which the family of the bride gives to the family of the groom.
MAIN CONTENT:
Now, when it comes to the concept of dowry death, then in general terms dowry deaths can be said to be the “death of the bride due to the violence inflicted upon her by the family of the groom in connection with the demand of the dowry”. In the previous decade or so, or one could say in the recent time for that matter, though the perception of people has changed over the long prevalent custom of dowry but the atrocities on woman over the same period of time has remained the same. Dowry death is a serious social evil in the society and therefore a matter of significant concern for the center and state legislatures respectively. The government in term has enacted a number of laws in this regard among which The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 is the most specific one for that matter. However, it was seen that making a separate act all together was not merely enough on the ground level and there arose a number of questions on the effectiveness and the applicability of the provision of the act on ground level.
The Main Legislations related to Dowry and its crimes are,
(A). DOWRY DEATH UNDER IPC, 1860 (SEC 304B):
Section 304 reads that, Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her marriage she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of the husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called “dowry death” and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death. Whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 7 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life.
The offence of dowry death is Cognizable, Non Compoundable and Non-bailable. There are basically as, The death of the woman must have taken place within 7 years of her marriage; The woman must have been subjected to cruelty or harassment by husband or his relatives; Death is caused by burns or bodily injury or otherwise than under normal circumstances; Here, dowry shall have the same meaning as assigned to it under Section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
In Satbir Singh v. State of Haryana, the Supreme Court held that the prosecution is able to establish the ingredients of Section 304B of Indian Penal Code, the burden of proof of innocence shifts to defense. In Mustafa Shahadal Sheikh v. State of Maharashtra, the court clarified its contention on the phrase ‘soon before death’. The court said that no specified period has been mentioned under the Penal law and can be determined by various courts depending upon the facts circumstances of the case.
(B).SECTION 498A OF IPC, 1860:
The section 498A deals with “cruelty” means, Any willful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; Harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand. For ensuring the dignity of the female gender and in order to ensure safety and security to women at the house of their In-laws against any sort of harassment or ill treatment by her husband or the relatives of the husband, it was in the year 1983 that the Indian Penal Code was amended and section 498A which deals with cruelty inflicted on a married women was added under Chapter XXA of The Indian Penal Code.
Basically, there are some essentials for Section 498A as, The women must be legally married; She must be made to experience cruelty or harassment; Harassment of women where such harassment is with a view to coercing her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her meet.
In Niraj Trivedi v. State of Bihar and Ors., the Delhi High Court held that the matters related to Section 498A of IPC can be investigated only where there has been a commission of any crime. In this particular case the fundamental requirement for the investigation in matters related to section 498A was made clear. In case of Onkar Nath v. State (NCT of Delhi), it was held that the provision should not be used as a device to achieve oblique motives.
(C).113A OF EVIDENCE ACT, 1872:
Section 113A reads under Presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman – When the question is whether the commission of suicide by a woman had been abetted by her husband or any relative her husband and it is shown that she had committed suicide within a period of seven years from the date of her marriage and that her husband or such relative of her husband had subjected her to cruelty, the court may presume, having regard to all the other circumstances of the case, that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative of her husband. For the purposes of this section “cruelty” shall have the same meaning as in section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).
As important thing to note here under this section is that as per the language of the section it can be inferred that according to the presumption, the burden of proof initially is upon the male accused to prove his innocence as according to Section 113A it shall be presumed that the husband or his relatives have abetted the suicide of the wife while here the onus of proof lies on the opposite party.
(D).SPECIAL AND EXCLUSIVE LAWS RELATED TO DOWRY AND ASSOCIATED CRIMES:
- DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT, 1961: This makes the giving and accepting of dowry, punishable in India with up to 5 years of imprisonment and fine extending up to Rs.15000 or the value of dowry, whichever is more. The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 has seen a couple of amendment in the form of the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act of 1984 and 1986 respectively. After the first amendment in 1984, many of the women representatives argued that the amendments thus made were still not enough to tackle the situation of Dowry related matters in the society and thus the act was subsequently further amender in the year 1986 to make the situation better.
- PROTECTION OF WOMEN FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT 2005: This act was enacted with an objective to provide protection to women against the atrocities faced by the women inside the 4 walls of her matrimonial house. It is self-evident that mainly in the initial years of marriage, the domestic violence can take place in the relation to demand of dowry and also the fact cannot be denied that as women can be subjected to violence anytime and after any duration. This Act provides to as woman protection from all major types of abuses namely physical, mental or emotional and also against any conduct which harms the dignity of any women so this Act is a step towards the safeguarding of women in a dual way.
CONCLUSION:
Dowry is a social evil which should be controlled at the earliest so that no more women are tortured in the society after marriage and are ensured a life which is full of dignity. This Article dealt with various laws and statutes regarding the issue if dowry related crimes and the present condition and situation of India over the same and also deals with Section 113A of Evidence Act of 1872 and also Section 304B and Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 and a fair amount of light was thrown over the Dowry Prohibition Act and Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. At the end it can be believed that there should be more awareness programs in the same direction and women should be told about their rights so as the females also can raise their voice against wrong in the society and contribute towards the society to make it a better place to live in.
REFERENCES:
The Indian Penal Code,1860
The Indian Evidence Act,1872
The Criminal Law, PSA Pillai (for Case Laws reference)
The Evidence Act, Paramjeet Kaur (for Case Laws reference)
Aishwarya Says:
The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.
If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems to secondinnings.hr@gmail.com
Join our Whatsapp Group for latest Job Opening