Indian anti-dowry law boon or bane for Indian expats?

July 24, 2010

Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are increasingly concerned about their vulnerability to the Indian anti-dowry law, namely, the IPC-498A, that was passed by the Indian Parliament in 1983. And they have reason to worry.


Under the Indian law, when a wife files dowry charges against her husband and/or his family, irrespective of the validity of the charges, the husband and/or his family members can be arrested within 24 hours without an investigation, leading to much embarrassment and physical and emotional damage caused to the accused. Since most Indian expat families looking for brides for their sons are unable to carry out detailed investigations about the prospective bride because of the lack of such a facility in the Kingdom, their vulnerability increases many folds.

Mohammed Mustafa, an Indian expat working in a construction company in Jeddah, explains how he and his family were implicated in a false dowry case last year. “My brother-in-law’s wife filed a dowry case against him, me and my wife along with other family members. She alleged that we persecuted her for not bringing any dowry. She demanded an amount of Rs15 to 20 lakhs for an out-of-court settlement, which ultimately the family had to give in to,” said Mustafa.

He said Indian men working abroad are easy targets in false dowry cases since “mostly, their expectations of a wife are such that they desire women who would take care of the home and their relatives, even when they are abroad, and this leads to overlooking several other potentially problematic issues”.

“There have been countless instances,” Mustafa continued, “where without any investigation, the police have arrested elderly parents, unmarried sisters, pregnant sisters-in-law and even three-year-olds. In these cases, the unsuspecting family of the husband has to go through a lot of mental torture and harassment by the system. A typical case goes on for years (five to seven years) and the conviction rate is about two percent only. Some accused parents, sisters and even husbands have committed suicide after languishing in jail.”

International legal expert Advocate Basha Nawaz Khan says: “The definitions of an act constituting a crime in matrimonial matters are extremely vague and the procedures are attempts to give justice before the court’s verdict”.

The Indian Penal Code 498A, is a criminal law (not a civil law), which is defined as: “Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. The offence is cognizable, non-compoundable and non-bailable.”

Expatriates from India, regardless of their age or marital status, (including the husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother(s)-in-law, sister(s)-in-law) living /lived with the wife in the (joint) family, can be jailed under section 498A of the IPC based on the woman’s (wife’s) complaints in the police station.

Most cases, where the IPC-498A is invoked, turn out to be false as they are mere blackmailing attempts by the wife (or her close relatives) in a strained marriage. In such cases, the complaint is followed by demands for a large amount of money (extortion) seeking an out-of-court settlement.

“In a typical case, misunderstandings and the failure to fulfill the unlimited demands of a frustrated person in the family may lead the wife to file a false written complaint alleging dowry harassment. The husband, his parents and relatives are immediately arrested without sufficient investigation and put behind bars on non-bailable terms,” explained advocate Khan.

K. K. Vijayan, community welfare consul at the Indian Consulate in Jeddah, said: “This law is for the protection and safety of women, especially in dowry and bride-burning cases. If it is misused and if a case is filed against a person, who is not living in India, that person can go through a legal procedure and prove his innocence.”

Mustafa said that there have been instances when Indian expats on returning to India were either arrested at the airport or their passports were confiscated as part of the bail condition.

“Following the confiscation of their passports, they are unable to return to their jobs,” he said, adding that since most court cases drag on for around six to eight years in Indian courts, these men cannot afford to stay in India for that length of time.

There is another related situation in Indian law according to which, if a wife dies an unusual death within the first seven years of marriage, her husband is assumed to have murdered her, if cruelty was mentioned by the wife before her death.

The Indian government’s concern for NRIs and their families is best exemplified by a ministry specifically created for NRIs, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA). It was created to act as a liaison between NRIs and their motherland and to help innocent NRIs and their families in cases like these.

“The inflexibility of laws is so brutal that it totally blocks any access to the wife by the husband, who fears false cases against him, which will instantly lead to his and his family’s arrest. The assumptions are such that once the wife leaves the husband’s home, the husband fears that the death of the wife will involve him in a murder trial, and, at the same time, the reunification with the wife will result in more legal sufferings. Under such a legal system created by the Indian government, divorce is usually the best solution, despite the short-term jail and severe financial loss suffered by the husband and his family,” said Khan.

“Dowry death cases are unfortunate and should be punished, but today the tables are turned. The IPC section 498A is being misused, and there is no way for those resident abroad to prevent this law from being abused. A person can only win if he chooses to fight. A typical case will go on for three to seven years and requires a lot of patience and finances to win,” said Mustafa.