There exists one industry in the name of ‘dowry’ in India. This is the dowry industry or to be specific – the 498a industry. Supreme Court has recognized this unholy industry long back and set many guidelines to curb this thriving business by feminists but of no avail.

When CRPC 41 amendments were not honoured in 498a cases, honourable Supreme Court of India has come down heavily on this industry in the Arnesh Kumar judgement by reiterating the rightful implementation of arrest procedures ( under CrPC 41a) and cautioned the police and lower courts about the use of the section as ‘weapons’ by ‘disgruntled housewives’.

Even though this judgment is not new and only explains one existing CrPC section to prevent unnecessary arrests and thus tries to bring justice for those imprisoned even before the trial, there is a huge resistance from the feminist organizations. Let’s try to understand different viewpoints on Arnesh Kumar judgment through this debate on a national TV channel (yeah feminists did not like to get exposed. So the video was later removed after the post of this article)–

It is very important to understand the following points before we proceed. These points are so far missed by everyone commenting on the same.

1. This judgment came on the seventh anniversary of the said marriage. (marriage date was July 1, 2007, and the judgment date was July 2, 2014)
2. The bail application and this judgment are for securing bail in a 498a case and do NOT mean acquittal in the same case. It only means the person can fight the case from his home. He still needs to finish the entire procedure of IPC 498a trial and then get justice.
3. Arnesh and the other accused of the case were not arrested but Arnesh ‘anticipated’ arrest and hence moved to courts for bail and hence this judgment on bail procedure.
4. Arnesh Kumar has earlier got one provisional bail order with conditions which were made absolute with the Arnesh Kumar Judgement.

There are two other points that are very important for everyone to understand that in a criminal justice system arrest based on a mere complaint is a completely unjustified and great violation of human rights. However, the Supreme Court DID NOT bar police from arrest. It only set guidelines and increased the accountability of both police and lower courts for any arrest under dowry law to stop the unbridled misuse of IPC 498a and to stop it from becoming ‘Legal Terrorism’.

The second important point to understand is that immediate arrest is in no way equal to justice. Justice can still happen when the accused is imprisoned after proving guilty. In fact, that is the way how the human rights of the accused can be safeguarded.

Going into the details of the case – I came to know that the original marriage was shortlived and the 498a drama is happening for last 1.5 years. So in these 1.5 years, Arnesh could only secure bail in his case and the main trial is not yet started.

I happened to meet him earlier and I knew that he lived in Hyderabad but he hailed from Bihar and for every hearing he needed to travel to Bihar and later to Delhi. He needed to spend 15-20K per month just to fight his cases. Bail money and maintenance to his wife (if any) were separate. So, in a way, already he has fed this industry with approximately 5 lakh rupees just to secure his bail.

Arnesh is not alone. In every such case, an accused always needs to shell out such huge ransom money to this industry. One of the fellow victims of false cases has done this analysis –

 

There is one more component to be added to this. Extortion by women NGOs in the name of settlement or for not filing any case or for making police not arrest the accused family needs to be added to these figures. When you realize the large-scale nature of this industry, you understand why women and lawyer bodies protest so vigorously when the bail procedure becomes easy.

So this industry is 20K crore+ industry in India that mostly helps lawyers, police and women NGOs to earn money and this money is going to them from every Indian family accused in such cases. The fear associated with easy arrest by police has been the greatest manipulator in this industry. No wonder why women groups protest these directions so vigorously.

The main arguments the feminists give against this order are –

1. 85% acquittal does not mean these are false cases. There may be many reasons including failure of prosecution, police or exaggeration by the advocates behind these cases not ending up in a prosecution. — They never clarify that when the primary complaint itself is false how can the prosecution even collect evidence or end the case in conviction? By not holding the accuser accountable for her claim based on which the complaint is made, these feminists try to pass the buck to others so that the drama of the 498a industry continues. This also shows that they support false complainants as they never talk about punishing false complainants.

2. Feminists also say (often they show their own data refuting NCRB stats) that a large number of women come to them complaining about domestic violence by their in-laws. In the debate mentioned above, one claimed that in the last eight years around one lakh women were killed for dowry.
3. Feminists often claim that most women in villages don’t even register cases. — But we need to understand that we cannot really consider any data that these private NGOs show, because these may be fudged for their benefit. The moot point remains that even if some women in villages don’t use the dowry laws made for them, that does not mean all women will need to be given blanket approval to file such false cases and go unpunished. If someone is not using a dowry remedy made for her that is her individual choice and we can’t really comment on that. If this is an awareness issue as feminists say, then it is a failure of their own groups who collect money from the public for women upliftment and end up supporting false cases and thus helping criminals.

No wonder why we find such cases being highlighted in social media by some of the activists –

Courtesy – Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj

The brunt of this legal threat is borne by the senior citizens and children. Many senior citizens commit suicide or cry for help but there is no one to help them. Even in this judgment, the Hon. SC has mentioned the arrest figures of senior citizens to show the legal terrorism unleashed in India. But still many of these voices are unheard (click the image below to see video) –

 Courtesy – Save Bengal Family

(For those who do not understand Bengali, what this lady is saying – Her Daughter-In-Law (DIL) openly threatened of filing a false case under 498a from the beginning of her marriage. That girl wanted to live on her husband’s income and was a highly demanding girl. Her DIL has also beaten her up, used to beat her son as well. She openly told them about her relationship with another guy but still married her son. This Mother-In-Law who is also a senior citizen could not say anything against her DIL because of the fear of 498a and arrest related to that. Due to the continuous threat from her DIL, the entire family wanted to commit suicide. She requests the authorities to ensure justice as she says many innocent boys are facing such cases and are afraid of marriage.)

But women like her are not the concern of the women groups. Because if foreign-funded feminist NGOs were really interested in fighting for women’s rights then they would have demanded strong punishment for those unscrupulous women who file false complaints. This is because due to these false and frivolous complaints the judicial time is wasted and these false cases also deny justice to those who need it.

We clearly understand that there is some selfish interest to the feminist groups in keeping IPC 498a as it is and keeping the fear of arrest alive so that the extortion is continued. They are not at all bothered about justice. If feminists start hearing both sides and uphold the voice of both sides based on merit, then this industry will die a premature death. The only reason they don’t want that to happen is that they reap undue benefits due to these provisions. They are also paid by foreign entities to sustain this legal terrorism business.

Read – Foreign-Funding of Feminist NGOs

I will end this with something Ms Rajana Kumari said in one of these debates on 498a. She said it was she and other women rights activists like her who has raised this slogan in the ’80s to bring 498a. –

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“Phool nehi chingari hain, Hum Bharat ki nari hain” (Hindi)

“We are a spark and not flowers. We are women of India” (nearest English translation)

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Now, when these feminists themselves are saying they are NOT flowers but they are the spark that can burn things around, we are still treating them as flowers. We are still providing unnecessary benefits to them because some other women have been good for us. These feminists, in turn, want to create a system in India that takes away basic human rights from everyone in India. The women who feel empowered in their young age see the harsh reality in their older age but then they have nowhere to go.

Feminists have rightly raised the slogan in the ‘80s. They are NOT flowers, but the potential fire that can burn everything around. It is better we understand the truth now and stop giving them treatment like flowers and take immediate steps to shut down this 498a industry.

Remember if you don’t protest today and demand strict punishment for the false complainants YOU will suffer tomorrow. Even as a woman it is your responsibility to separate out criminal women and demand their punishment.

Remember, YOU

are responsible for your future. Don’t mix yourself with these criminal parasites.

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Related links of debates on SC judgement on CrPC 41a (arrest procedure in 498a)

India News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93h2E1wTB3s&feature=youtu.be

News24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do9It0CZ6IY&feature=youtu.be

News24 (second): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucgYprAZTYE&feature=youtu.be

News24 (Third): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZjfKLHhG5E&feature=youtu.be

India News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0bMiT8iEwY&feature=youtu.be

IBN Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnRT_VwsyFE&feature=youtu.be

DD News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u1d6nL67_o&feature=youtu.be

ABP News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nLwrwc-amI

NDTV India: http://khabar.ndtv.com/video/show/badi-khabar/328461

NDTV 24X7: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/watch-will-more-teeth-to-ncw-curb-crimes-against-women/328483

IBN Live: http://youtu.be/rnRT_VwsyFE