Pinaki Chandra Ghose JUDGMENT
C.K. Prasad, J.
1. The Petitioner apprehends his arrest in a case Under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter called as Indian Penal Code) and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The maximum sentence provided Under Section 498-A Indian Penal Code is imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and fine whereas the maximum sentence provided Under Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act is two years and with fine.
2. Petitioner happens to be the husband of Respondent No. 2 Sweta Kiran. The marriage between them was solemnized on 1st July, 2007. His attempt to secure anticipatory bail has failed and hence he has knocked the door of this Court by way of this Special Leave Petition.
3. Leave granted.
4. In sum and substance, allegation levelled by the wife against the Appellant is that demand of Rupees eight lacs, a maruti car, an air-conditioner, television set etc. was made by her mother-in-law and father-in-law and when this fact was brought to the Appellant's notice, he supported his mother and threatened to marry another woman. It has been alleged that she was driven out of the matrimonial home due to non-fulfilment of the demand of dowry.
5. Denying these allegations, the Appellant preferred an application for anticipatory bail which was earlier rejected by the learned Sessions Judge and thereafter by the High Court.
6. There is phenomenal increase in matrimonial disputes in recent years. The institution of
marriage is greatly revered in this country. Section
498-A of the Indian Penal Code was introduced with avowed object to
combat the menace of harassment to a woman at the hands of her husband and his relatives. The fact that Section
498-A is a cognizable and non-bailable offence has lent it a dubious place of pride amongst the
provisions that are used as weapons rather than shield by disgruntled wives. The simplest way to harass is to get the husband and his relatives arrested under this provision. In a quite number of cases, bed-ridden grand-fathers and grand-mothers of the husbands, their sisters living abroad for decades are arrested.