It's not always that the husbands and their families have to cool their heels behind bars for demanding dowry, but the wives and their parents may meet similar fate for giving dowry. In such a rare instance, a city court has ordered to register a criminal case against a woman and her relatives for allegedly giving dowry during her marriage.

Giving dowry is an offence under the Dowry Prohibition A ct, Metropolitan Magistrate SPS Laler directed the police officials of Sarojini Nagar police station to investigate the case and make sure if the offence warranted to their arrest.

The order of the court came on the complaint of Manish Jain (name changed), a Gurgaon resident, who had approached the court seeking a decree of divorce against his wife Meena (name changed).

The complainant had alleged that his wife, whom he had married in April 2007, deserted him without citing any specific reason.

However, when he went to meet his wife at he parental house, he was manhandled, slapped and threatened for life by the brother-in-law.

He further alleged he was not allowed to even meet his infant child.

He further said his wife started making unreasonable demands to force the complainant to live as a `ghar-jamai' and asked him to bear all expenditure for her mother and brother. He further accused his wife and his in-laws of sending him threat messages of falsely implicating him in a dowry case. Furthermore the wife also approached a city court alleging her husband of illegally demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 24 lakh.

The husband, however, approached the court through his counsel Pradeep Nawani and pleaded that the accused, being educated persons, were fully aware that giving dowry was an offence and hence they have become accomplices for the offence of giving dowry.

The court, however, after taking cognisance of the offence directed the police officials to register a case against his wife and in-laws.

"The police is bound to lodge an FIR whenever a complaint of cognisable offence is made out to the police. The SHO is directed to register the case and investigate the matter," said the magistrate. The court, restrained from issuing any direction to the police regarding the immediate arrest of the accused.

"The police should first investigate the matter and find out if actually any offence has been committed or not. The police should arrest the accused only if the circumstances so warrant,"
the court further said.