Section 498A not for vengeance: Victims

Scaling a milestone in checking the abuse of the anti-dowry law, Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code became the reason for a group of young men to launch an organisation- www.489a.org. The organisation conducted a seminar today in Bangalore, to bring together victims of false allegations of dowry and murder.

It is not just the laity but the educated elite who are also falling victim to false allegations. Sunil Kumar, a graduate from IIT Kanpur and the ex-director of engineering for Yahoo, was a victim of the anti-dowry law, who was put behind bars for violating most of the norms. “As per the law, if the wife is the complainant and is alive, the arrest should be the last resort after reconciliation attempts have been made. But in my case, I was not even shown the complaint that was filed against me. I have lost my job and spent a good amount of time in jail,” said Sunil.

The seminar was attended by over 30 men who were victims of abuse of the anti-dowry law.
Rohit Rajan (name changed) works with an internet portal and said that his family was being targeted by his wife and the shame of getting arrested led to his father’s death.

“I came to Udupi, after a complaint was lodged by my wife, the police came looking for us by tracking my mobile signal. We belong to a small village where such an issue can bring shame to our family. My brother moved out of the village after the incident and my mother is now alone at home,” he said.

According to these activists, the law is being used as a source of easy money. “In most of the cases these arrests are preplanned. Of the many people I have contacted, most have been arrested on Fridays, since the court will be off on Saturdays and Sundays, thus purposefully making spend days in jail,” said Avinash Reddy, one of the activists.

Pointing at the statistics of similar cases, 27,000 cases have been registered in Bangalore, among which 4% were where the government had to file a case since the complainant was absent, while the other majority was filed by women.

“We are not against the rights of women being protected, but it must not be used for personal vengeance,” said Reddy.