- Empowered
Daughter-in-laws
--------------------------
Are you a man getting married ? Then beware. Now, there is a law for
daughter-in-laws in India using which she can force her old in-laws
to go out of the house if it is
a joint family.
Upon her request, the old and
sick parents and even unmarried sisters
of the husband can be asked by
CAW Police cells to leave the house or
provide separate house for the
son and daughter-in-law.
If the old in-law's do not
comply, then they can be arrested with non-
bailable warrents. It is not
unnatural for the old and sick in-laws
and unmarried/pregnant sisters
to be kept in jail for 5 to 10 days
till they get bail.
If you and your wife do not stay
with your parents, still your wife
can complain to police that your
parents are disturbing your married
life and insulting her. One
single written line of complaint by your
wife is enough to put your
parents and sisters behind bars.
Now a days, daughters are
encouraged by fathers to go to police
station for any small marital
problems. Many wives in urban india
become extremely upset when
their husbands visits his parent's house
or even talks to them on phone.
Encouraged by their fathers, these
wives complain to the police not
knowing the exact implications of
the law. Police files the
complaint and sends officials with arrest
warrents to arrest her in-laws
and other members of the family. Now,
even if the daughter-in-law
pleads not to arrest them, police will
not listen. This law called
Section 498a is such that once the
complaint is filed, it
automatically leads to non-bailable warrents
without any investigation or
verification of truth. So, arrests are a
must and police can not do
anything about it. So, old and sick
parents, even sisters of husband
are put behind bars for 5 to 10
days. Once they get released,
they refuse to take the daughter-in-law
back home. Many old in-laws have
committed suicide after spending
time in jail due to complaints
by daughter-in-law.
So, severe this situation in
many pockets of India that World Health
Organisation(WHO) has
specifically mentioned this injustice in its
report on Elder Abuse called
"Missing Voices". It says
http://www.who.int/hpr/ageing/MissingVoices.pdf
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D) Legal and financial abuse
Legal abuse was named as a
particular type of abuse in both India and
Lebanon, although each country has its own specific version of
this.
The Indian expression of legal
abuse is through abuse of the dowry
laws by daughters-in-law:
In India, there is a law that is intended to protect
daughters-in-law
from abusive in-laws. A
daughter-in-law can go to the police station
and lay a complaint that she is
being abused by her in-laws, and the
in-laws are arrested on her word
alone. However, the focus group
participants reported that some
daughters-in-law are using this law
as a form of elder abuse, by
making false police reports. In general,
participants stressed that the
lack of a caring attitude by daughters-
in-law was a major problem. (India)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
In some occasions, where the in-laws
found that the daughter-in-law
has a previous affair and she
still continues that affair after
marriage. Now, the
daughter-in-law with her affair being exposed,
threatens to put her in-laws and
family behind bars unless they shell
out a hefty 5 to 10 lacs
compensations for the marriage to be
annulled.
Large number of such incidents
are reported in Bangalore, in Kolkata
and Delhi. That has lead to a large number of online clubs and
websites which offer free help
and counselling to people who have
gone through these nightmares
because of daughter-in-law complaining
under section 498a.
Many judges including former
Supreme Court chief justice K.N.Singh,
former Karnataka High Court
Chief Justice and NHRC member Justice
Malimath have asked for changes
in this law saying that the well
intentioned laws are grossly
misused leading to severe injustice to
innocent old and sick people.
Now, US State Department has
come out with a travel advisory on this
Human Rights abuse by Indian
Daughter-in-laws after consulting with
its consulates in Indian and
interpol.
So, what is the way out ?
1) One must be extremely careful
in married life and must be aware of
all laws related to marriage.
2) If possible, make a
pre-nuptial agreement. That can help a bit.
3) If you sense problems from
wife or her parents, keep them happy by
giving them money by cheques
etc.
4) If they start threatening you
and your family, then approach
various groups offering help in
internet in the area of section 498a
(or cruelty law). A large number
of people who have gone through
nightmares will give you
counselling and moral help without
suggesting you to go for
divorce.
5) If they have already
complained to police, then shift your parents
and sisters to some other
relative's place which your wife does not
know. Never walk in to police
station when police calls you. Always
send a lawyer to verify what is
going on. If the complaint is filed,
then immediately seek
anticipatory bail for parents, sisters and
yourself from a higher court.
God willing you may get the
anticipatory bail and save your
parents and sisters from jail.
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