Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Anti-dowry law: Helpline for `harassed husbands'

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore June 10. With a spate of reports about bridegrooms and their parents being charged with dowry demands, and brides walking away from the altar angry at such demands, Bangalore will see a new helpline in action.

This number (3500895, Tuesdays and Fridays, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.) is strictly for husbands and their close relatives who find themselves charged with offences under IPC 498A and the Dowry Prohibition Act. According to the persons behind this initiative, the laws do not recognise the possibility of women ill-treating their husbands and in-laws, or other members of their husband's families. There are several instances of Section 498A of IPC being misused "as an instrument of blackmail", but all public sympathy goes to those who misuse the law.

The addition of Section 304B to IPC to deal with "dowry deaths" is also subject to misuse. In such cases, the spirit of jurisprudence that "a person is presumed innocent till proven guilty" is forgotten.

The persons behind the new helpline allege that police and some lawyers encourage women complainants to use the laws prohibiting dowry to take revenge on their in-laws. There are instances of wives misusing the law only because they want to get away from a joint family and set up homes of their own for various reasons. If a man resists the move because the parents are aged, his wife goes to police with a complaint of dowry harassment.

The persons behind the helpline for husbands refer to the recent comments by Justice J.D. Kapoor of Delhi that anti-dowry laws are being misused by some people.

Women's rights activists and some senior lawyers say it is a ploy to divert attention away from increasing instances of genuine dowry harassment. "Very few women in our society dare to take on their in-laws even when faced with physical abuse,'' they feel.

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