Chandigarh: A city resident has moved court, demanding registration of a case against his estranged wife and her family for giving him dowry. The couple is already fighting a divorce case in another court.

The complainant, Ravinder Singh Dhanju, is employed with an IT firm. Recently, the Hisar police had arrested him after his wife's complaint that he was harassing her for dowry. At present, Ravinder is out on bail.

A resident of Attawa, Ravinder married Baljinder Kaur in December 2004 in Hisar. The marriage was registered in November 2005 under the Hindu Marriage Act.

In November 2008, the marriage ran into rough weather and Baljinder lodged a criminal complaint against her husband with the Hisar police.

The couple has a three-year-old son.

Admitting that his family demanded dowry, Ravinder in his petition has pleaded that the girl's parents agreed to his family's dowry demand before the marriage.

"Even the FIR states that the girl's family had given us dowry at the time of the wedding, and even after that. But while registering the case against me, the police forgot a vital fact, that giving dowry is also a cognisable offence, and the penalty could go up to five years of imprisonment," Ravinder said.

Citing a Delhi High Court judgment dated February 23, 2007, advocate T S Sudan said, "If a well-educated woman marries a person despite the dowry demand, she and her family become accomplices in the crime under the Dowry Prohibition Act."

"Most people don't know that those who give dowry are also liable to be booked for the same offence," Ravinder added.

Ravinder has forwarded an application to the Chandigarh Police for registration of an FIR against his wife and in-laws, all residents of Hisar.

The matter will come up for hearing on January 19 in the court of Judicial Magistrate (first class) Pritpal Singh.