History of IPC 498a?

India is probably the only democratic country which has a law to punish husband and relatives for a specific crime of cruelty to wife. The cruelty to wife should be of the kind to endanger her life or limb, or drive her to suicide. Other kind of cruelty doesn't attract IPC 498a – in theory at least. It is another matter it has become a cool and convenient way for system - police, judiciary, lawyers to extort and extract money from husband and families based on a few tears, drama, and allegations of wives and their pimps.
India is one country again which has a history of passing biased laws and creating presumptions in laws against men, in name of giving justice to women. Dowry Act 1961, IPC 498a in 1983, IPC 304b Dowry Death, Evidence Act changes, rape laws etc are all in same category… give 'justice' to abla naari.
IPC 498a was created ostensibly to keep women alive… or “staying alive”, as the naarebaazi of feminazis like indira jaising goes! It is another matter that most women filing 498a these days are hale and hearty and lack any of the evidences on their body or mental condition the kind of which should attract 498a in the first place.

Getting back with 498a wife

The real life consequences of getting back with 498a wife are as follows

Some new members come to SIF only after taking back 498a wife and getting their ass fired big time this time.
Of all SIF members known who have gotten back, they have faced 498a again within time period of few weeks, few months to maximum probably 14 months as in case given below.
There is not a single case to my knowledge of a SIF member living without any issues after taking back 498a wife.
If outside of SIF someone has taken back 498a wife and living happily ever after, we do not know. We do not have such statistics and it will only be idiocy to speculate that all may be fine imagining about statistics which we don't have in disregard to statistics of SIF members that we do have.

Result of getting back with 498a wife, always the same: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saveindianfamily/message/177159
Some history of above case: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saveindianfamily/message/57303

The rationale for not compromising with 498a wife

You should know by now.

For those who do it in name of child, family, happiness etc, the question is simple: Will your child be safe in a family where one parent files false case on another parent, for whatever 'reasons'.
Even a dysfunctional family can get back on track, but that does not happen after criminal cases are filed against one person. The whole idea of filing criminal case is that it is serious enough not to be a private or family matter anymore. So when you have been stripped naked as a criminal due to one 498a case, is it really possible to gain respect and happiness back by compromising?
Isn't it better to fight back fully and indeed gain the respect of your child(ren) in future, that you did not buckle down under pressure and injustice in name of some personal comforts.
Moreover women who file false 498a while having children are in ready frame of mind to use children as nothing but weapons in their overall fight, so getting back in name of children will not work, but may expose you to even greater danger.

Marrying an ex-498a wife

Ethical issues

If a SIF member says that my IPC 498a case was false, but is willing to marry another man's ex-498a wife, it creates basic ethical issue and contradiction. If you state that your case was false, then you are stating that you are an honest man. But willingness to marry ex-498a woman implies on your part that her husband must have been a crook! In short – my 498a case is false, but those of other men may be true!
If a woman is alive and healthy at time of filing 498a, it is by definition a false case. So marrying a 498a woman means you are willing to marry a liar, crook of a woman, because it gives you happiness! For how long?

Legal issues

There has been real case where a man who willingly married an ex-498a wife believing her previous story to be true, was denied bail when her wife filed 498a on him too! The judge's reasoning was simple that you married her fully believing the cruelties of her previous husband, so why should YOU not be given benefit of doubt too. It is actually not a valid legal stand on part of a judge, but a good enough psychological one and you cannot argue with judge while you are cooling heels in jail!

Handling some logical reasons to marry 498a wife

Q: For a SIF member, marrying any woman is risky given our biased laws. So why unnecessary fear of 498a woman? There is uncertainty in marrying any woman.
A:

For the same reason that even if you have understood all the laws and tricks employed by crooked women, unless the legal bias and presumption against men changes for the better, it is far better to marry a non-498 woman than a known evil called 498a woman.
It is not a question of bravado or how well you know the gender-biased laws. Taking a well-known and proven risk called 498a woman is quite foolish compared to marrying a non-498a woman, where the risk is unknown and same as general population of all women. This is same as having flip of fair coin compared to a biased coin. You never know fully beforehand which side will turn up since it is a probability, but you know for sure that probability of a biased coin giving the unfavourable result is much higher. A ex-498a woman is a biased coin designed to flip against you. You really want to try your luck on flip of a biased coin!

Q: I will be careful in selecting the ex-498a.
A: Maybe you have earned the ability to distinguish a biased coin from fair one :-)