Expressing deep concern over unhappy wives using the anti-dowry law against their husbands and in-laws, the Supreme Court directed that no arrest or coercive action should be taken on such complaints without ascertaining the veracity of allegations on Thursday.
Acknowledging a growing trend among women involved in marital discord to abuse Section 498A of IPC to rope in their husbands’ relatives including parents, minor children, siblings and grandparents in criminal cases, a bench of Justices A K Goel and UU Lalit said it was high time such frivolous cases which violated the human rights of innocent was checked.
This is a shift from the dominant judicial conception of women as victims who would silently suffer injustice rather than bring disrepute to their family by taking domestic conflict outside the four walls of the home.
The court broke away from the reigning perception to rule that in dowry cases, the account of the alleged victim need not be taken at face value.
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