Dowry in the Act is defined as any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given in connection with the marriage. The penalty for giving or taking dowry is not applicable in case of presents which are given at the time of marriage without any demand having been made.
Dowry Prohibition Act, Indian law, enacted on May 1, 1961, intended to prevent the giving or receiving of a dowry. Under the Dowry Prohibition Act, dowry includes property, goods, or money given by either party to the marriage, by the parents of either party, or by anyone else in connection with the marriage. The Dowry Prohibition Act applies to persons of all religions in India.
The original text of the Dowry Prohibition Act was widely judged to be ineffective in curbing the practice of dowry. Moreover, specific forms of violence against women continued to be linked to a failure to meet dowry demands. As a result, the legislation underwent subsequent amendment. In 1984, for example, it was changed to specify that presents given to a bride or a groom at the time of a wedding are allowed.
The law required, however, that a list be maintained describing each gift, its value, the identity of the person giving it, and the person’s relation to either party to the marriage. The act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code were further amended to protect female victims of dowry-related violence. Another layer of legal protection was provided in 2005 under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
Amendments to the original Dowry Prohibition Act also established minimum and maximum punishments for giving and receiving dowry and created a penalty for demanding dowry or advertising offers of money or property in connection with a marriage.
The Indian Penal Code was also modified in 1983 to establish specific crimes of dowry-related cruelty, dowry death, and abetment of suicide. These enactments punished violence against women by their husbands or their relatives when proof of dowry demands or dowry harassment could be shown.
'80 per cent of all dowry cases in India end in acquittal'
Under the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, both giving and accepting dowry in India is an offence. The punishment for violating the law is 5 years imprisonment + Rs 15,000 fine or the value of the dowry given, whichever is more.
In 1983, Sections 304B and 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were enacted to make it easier for an Indian wife to seek redressal for harassment by the husband’s family.
Section 304B of the IPC relates to dowry deaths, or the death of a woman in the initial seven years of marriage as a result of a dowry demand by her husband or his family/relatives.
Section 498A of the IPC, popularly known as the anti-dowry law, prohibits cruelty by husband or his relatives towards a woman of the kind that might harm her or force her to commit suicide or relates to a demand for money or property. This amendment allows immediate arrest and jailing of a woman’s spouse and her in-laws in the case of harassment or cruelty.
The offence of cruelty under this Section is non–compoundable. In other words, it cannot be withdrawn by the petitioner and is also non-bailable. This means a mere complaint results in a mandatory arrest, and it is then a matter of discretion of the court to grant or refuse bail.
1. While many women have taken recourse to the law to get justice and freedom from violent marriages, India's Supreme Court noted in July 2017 that the law is being increasingly "misused by some disgruntled wives" to frame their husbands and his relatives.
2. Quoting the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) data, the bench said that nearly 200,000 people were arrested over dowry offences in 2012, but only 14.4% of the accused were convicted.
3. "We are conscious of the object for which the provision was brought into the statute.... At the same time, violation of human rights of (the) innocent cannot be brushed aside," the bench had said.
4. To this effect, the Supreme Court of India had ordered the formation of family welfare committee in every district, to probe the veracity of complaints filed under Section 498A.
5. The judges ordered the police "not to automatically arrest" an accused, but to go through a "nine-point checklist" to "satisfy themselves about the necessity for arrest".
6. And in cases where arrests are made, a magistrate must approve further detention of the accused, the court had ruled.
