Story of 498A victim
This story is about my friend Govind a victim of dowry abuse law 498(A) by Dipika Rajgarhia.
I have gone thru the messages relating to the women harrassed by men ( her husband and his family members) and really feel sorry for those geniune cases. At the same time, I feel sorry for the men who have been charged wrongly by their wives under wrong advice of their families / Lawyers under the umbrella of strict section 498A of IPC to black mail men's families /relatives.
Incidently something similar happened with my friend and his family members. My friend married a girl Dipika Rajgarhia. Dipika Rajgarhia married my friend for his money and after sometime she filed a fake case against her in-laws to get as much money as possible.
She got married to my friend in January 1999. Immediately after her marriage she went back to Munger, Bihar and came back to her in-laws place in April 1999 after completing her B.A. exams. Upon her returning she told my friend that she had prior relationships and she wants to stay with her lover. An agreement was reached and Dipika Rajgarhia went back to her parents house along with all the stuff the couple had got in marriage. Dipika Rajgarhia took her married passport along with her to Munger.
Dipika's mother-in-law used to live all alone. In November 2003 Dipika Rajgarhia came back to her in-laws place and told her mother-in-law who was living all alone in thier mansion like house that she is regretful of her past and now wants to stay with her. She initially refused but she told that she had nowhere to go so she kept her at her house. Dipika bought a separate mobile phone along with her to keep in touch with her family and some special stones to hyptonize which she wore at all times during her 5 day visit this time. Her mother-in-law used to go to temple in the evening and during that time Dipika stole important documents from the house locker. These papers included passport photocopies, property papers, share certificates and other very important documents. After a few days Dipika Rajgarhia's uncle Kashi Rajgarhia along came along with 20 people and took Dipika along with him to Munger. Before leaving her in-laws place she took eveything in Govind's room along with her. The 20 men who came along with Dipika Rajgarhia packed everything in her ex-husbands room. They even took with them the light furniture. Her mother-in-law being all alone at home watched all this helplessly.
In December 2003, Dipika filed a fake case under sections 498(A), 406 of Indian penal court against her in laws to extract millions of rupees. In this fake case she has charged friends and relatives of Govind's who is never met or even ever talked. You can read the about the misuses of 498a by just typing it on any search engine.
Who is responsible for all such false allegations ? Her Mother-in-law is old and never expected this harrassment at this age.
Indian Law has made this provision of 498A to save women from harrasment by her husband and not a tool
to be used by women to blackmail her husband and his family.
WHAT IS GOVERMENT DOING ABOUT ALL SUCH FAKE CASES ? IF GOVERNMENT DOES NOT TAKE ACTION IN TIME, LOT OF INNOCENT FAMILIES ARE GOING TO SUFFER THRU THE HANDS OF CROOKED WOMEN AND POLICE WHO FIRST ARREST/HARRASS AND THEN TALK.
Story of a victim of 498a by Dipika Rajgarhia
Abuse of IPC 498A
1. Monetary harassment: In this his case the women want out of the marriage because she is not able to connect with her husband and hence she treats the 498a as a voluntary retirement scheme to make a lot of money. The majority of such cases are involved of NRIS. The psychological characteristics of these NRIs are the studious nature and the less practical view point which makes them a good "catch: due their earnings but a boring life partner due to their simple and straight forward nature. This does not fit in with the life style requirement. So the women decides that life is getting a drag and files for 498a and instantly gains lots of money as settlement. The technical term for this kind of misuse is SOWRY HARASSMENT.
2. Previous Affair: This is another situation in which the case finally gets filed for 498a. The girl has a previous affair and marries the new husband cannot forget her old lover. She stays distant from her husband. The previous lover says you are no longer mine. Every husband cannot be expected to react like Ajay devgun in HumDile de chuke Sanam. He gets furious and says some things that are not palatable and hey presto she complains to her parents and 498a is filed. We have to remember that in Bangalore that S**** has been charged with allegedly instigating murder of a software engineer from INTEL that prior to her marriage to this software engineer.
3.Adultery: husband wife marry. Wife stays and the husbands wants divorce but wife not wanting to give divorce or at least wants to en cash her current marriage. So she files 498a. Sometimes though there is a child from the adulterer the courts are unfortunately reluctant to DNA test on the child when it could have clearly shown who was at fault. I cannot think of why the DNA is not being tested when it would be clear who was the father. Women’s organisations make a hue and cry saying that still the husband should support that child because it is good interest of the child. Probably then either Bill gates or Anil Ambani should take care of the child since the relationship of the child and the father is same as that of either Anil Ambani or Bill Gates
4. Fraud: The marriage under false pretenses or fraud is another major finding why the women file the false 498a and dowry harassment cases. The girl makes false representation in terms of her education claiming that she is a graduate when she is not even class 12 the pass and bags a good husband. On being caught out as a defense she starts claiming harassment instead of coming clean and asking for forgiveness and if the husband feels cheated then she should give a divorce. Instead of behaving honorably she misuses the system to get maximum mileage out of the system. It would be greatness of an husband if he is willing to forgive fraud but one should not force a decent men to love because marriage cannot be built with one with whom one has lost the trust.
The above are the 4 main reasons why the misuse of the law occurs. Compared to other laws there is no incentive to misuse. Murder, Robbery there is no incentive to misuse the law since there is really no benefit available. But by bringing decent, god fearing middle class citizens under the fold there is lot of money to be made and if it is an NRI then you have a " Milch Cow" available for everyone to milk.
