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Section 498A: Harassment & Extortion tool provided by law PDF Print E-mail
( 2 Votes )
Written by Rakesh Singh   
Wednesday, 11 November 2009 11:32

Torture and police brutality are endemic in India.
-Supreme Court Lawyer And Architect Of The Indian DV Act, Indira Jaising, In A London Court, 1999

Indian law is being misused in several ways. Not only men but women are no exception of this. Section 498A is one of the legal tool available for Indian women to harass their husbands.

This is used to file case against husband and other in laws for demanding dowry. But it is being misused by most of the wives of Indian society. 498A is the perfect tool for extortion and/or to wreak vengeance on husbands and their families.

There are two types of Indian citizens, the privileged and the ordinary. The privileged will never think about law, as the laws don’t apply to them. They have no fear of law. The Arjun Singh 498A case is a prime example. Though an accused in a criminal case, he is still a Union Minister whereas thousands of govt. employees have lost their jobs.

The gravity of seriousness of this charge is evident from the fact that if a person man or woman has a daughter in law, he/she can be jailed under section 498A of IPC, even if she lived for a few days with them or even never lived.

498A is considered as a prudent means of extortion. The other characteristics of this extortion racket are:

  • This law encourages corruption and enables govt. agencies like the police to violate Fundamental Rights of the 498A victim.
  • It plays a role in gender based vote bank politics.
  • It denies justice to the real victims of dowry harassment.
  • This is exposing the lower judiciary to corruption.
  • Finally, this is a gamble. In the end this trick may fail if the falsely accused husband choose to fight back.

Motives :- Following are the possible motives of women who use 498A :-

  • Money: Wife can demand a huge money from his husband who has been jailed along with his parents.
  • Revenge: She can use it as a tool to take revenge if her husband etc. did not fulfill her unreasonable demands.
  • Guilt: She has done something wrong. For example she may have committed adultery and got caught in the act. She can cover it up with a dowry harassment case. She can gain sympathy by this and also custody of kids, if kids are involved.
  • She Is Just Not Into You: She just doesn’t like her husband and wants to get out of the marriage. The 498A is a convenient tool to do so with lots of harassment for husband.
  • She Is A Control Freak: She wants to control her husband and in laws in every possible way. She may also want to not support husband’s parents and siblings in any fashion regardless of  his ability to do so. She may want her husband to throw his parents out of their house. Her goal is to gain control of all aspects of her husband life, including finances and to break the bonds and responsibilities that tie her husband to his family. If she could not succeed in this she will use 498A.

To Marry The Boyfriend: If she is having affair, she will file a case under 498A to demand cash and then she will go to marry her boyfriend. They will use this cash to set up their family.

Now question arises if 498A has provided vast powers to wife, what counter charge can be made against her and her family?

The answer is, cases can be filed under I.P.C. for fabricating false evidence (Section 192), dishonestly making false claim in the court (Section 209), false charge of offence made with the intent to injure (Section 211), forgery (Section 463) etc. These counter cases will keep that party in distress and proceedings in these cases can be used to support main case of 498A.
But the mental torture and distress suffered by husband and his family members can’t be compensated at all.
 

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