Memorandam on the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill 2010

Date : 24-7-2012

To

The Union Minister of Law and Justice

Govt. of India,

Sasthri Bhavan

New Delhi – 110001

Sub : - Memorandum on the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill 2010 

 

Sir,

We request the Hon’ble standing committee kindly to consider the following submissions also in the context of the above said proposed Bill.

Sec.498 -A is generally being misused by women and their men, also by their Advocates, to lodge baseless complaints against some innocent persons who happened to be in the status of husbands and their relatives. In most occasions the court consider only the prima – facie status of the case and even though the allegation is a false one, the innocent husband and his relatives are remanded to judicial custody as the offense is a non-bailable one, thus some times the accused persons, who is forced to face a crime under 498 A of IPC is compelled to get arrested, irrespective of his social status. In most of such cases the marital ties lead to permanent brake down and finally to divorce. 

 

Now a days the brides or the bride grooms are not complying with the provisions of the dowry prohibition Act in keeping a register regarding the gifts, money and ornaments or other assets that they are receiving at the time of marriage. In the latter stages of their marriage, when conflicts occur, the wife generally utilize this occasion to raise false claims against the husbands who actually had not received any assets from the wife or his relatives and the present law of evidence connected with these type of cases, pronounce judgments in favor of the wife even attaching his assets. In these case strict evidence and independent verification is required. 498 A is a sharp weapon given in the hands of women to wreak havoc on husband and his family members and also by police to make money.

Huge and inflated claims are made of money and jewelery given at the time of marriage. It is essential that before these are accepted, the Honorable Court should have independent verification of the contentions done, either by the Police or by other agencies. If found wrong, heavy penalties should be imposed on the party making the inflated claims.

When the character of one party is attacked then also verification should be done and the wrong party punished. 

 

When one party claims that certain assets were acquired by that party, the source of income of that party should be proved so that false claims are dismissed. 

 

It should be borne in mind that in marriage disputes the children suffer. Adequate attention should be given to this aspect & also sufficient measures evolved to protect them and also to ensure that their future is taken care of properly.

When it is clear that the party, who is approaching the Court for divorce after many years of marriage, it should be accepted that party is approaching the Court because that party has come to the irretrievable situation. In such circumstances the counseling procedure etc should be dropped. In such a situation if the other party refuses to attend the Court, Despite notice, the relief sought should be allowed without delay. 

 

When the marriage had subsisted for a number of years, the huge claims of compensation made by the wife should not be allowed taking note of the fact that the husband had looked after the family for such a long period and he had chosen to walk out because of the behavior of his wife and/or children. 

 

In a situation where the husband had walked out of the shared house because threat of false criminal case being foisted against him under the Domestic Violence Act or otherwise the wife should not be allowed possession of the house built by the husband . It is seen that in some case the Court has given the house to the wife even though the house was built by the husband out of his hard earned money.

In case of Joint petition, the same should be allowed immediately and the waiting period of six months should be done away with. 

 

At present the provisions of Domestic Violence Act are weighed heavily in favor of women. Unless this is rectified even decent young men would shudder to enter into the institution of marriage and the harmony in existing marriages will be disturbed greatly.

Sec, 498- A is against equality before law enshrined in our constitution.

In most cases, counseling is only a drama in the courts, for name sake.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

G.Mohanan Pillai

General Secretary

     Kudumba Samrashana Vedi

     Kerala.