Girls and their parents who decide to go ahead with a marriage proposal despite dowry demand from future in-laws become “accomplices” and will face prosecution.
“If a well-educated woman gets married to a person despite demand for dowry, she and her family become accomplices in the crime under the Dowry Prohibition Act,” Justice S N Dhingra held.
The Delhi High Court Bench was deciding a petition moved by an engineer, Neera Singh, seeking to quash a Sessions Court order in July 2006 discharging four of her in-laws of allegations of dowry harassment.
On perusal of Singh’s plea, the Court observed that though vociferously opposing her family for giving into a demand for an air-conditioner by the other party at the time of the engagement, she had agreed to the marriage although knowing that a dowry demand had already been made.
In this context, the Court also highlighted a conversation she had with her father, in which she berates the latter with the words: “You have already given a car and an AC at the demand of her in-laws, what will happen if they demand a flat tomorrow.”
“Despite this conversation with her father and despite knowing about the dowry demand, she married into the same family irrespective of the fact that she was a highly-educated engineer and her brother is in the police,” the Court noted, while dismissing her plea.
Pointing out that Section 3 of the Act prohibits “giving and taking of dowry”, the Bench said in such cases the police should “simultaneously” register a criminal case against the parents of the girl, who proceed to marry of their daughter to the same family in spite of demands for dowry from them.
Observing that lavish weddings were the rule of the day, the Bench said courts should insist on disclosure of source of funds on receiving complaints claiming payment of “crores of rupees” as dowry.
“Nowadays, exorbitant claims are made about the amount spent on marriage ceremonies, dowry and gifts. In some cases claims are made of spending crores of rupees on dowry without disclosing the source of income and flow of funds,” the Court said.
The Bench further observed that cases in which illegal sources were tapped by the girl’s family to cough up hefty dowry demands, legal recourse should be taken against them.
“I consider time has come for courts to insist on disclosing source of such funds and verification of income from tax returns. If huge cash amounts are alleged to have been given at the time of the marriage, which are not accounted anywhere, such cash transactions should be brought to the notice of the Income Tax Department by the court concerned so that the source of income is verified and the person is brought to law,” Justice Dhingra said.
It’s only because courts entertain dowry harassment complaints on the face of it without verifying antecedents that a large number of false complaints are pouring in, the Bench observed.