Consequences of IPC 498A

First time readers refer to IPC 498A – The most draconian law for reference and continuity.

Having had discussed the features and loopholes of IPC 498A and some of its possible areas of misuse, we will now proceed to discuss the consequences of filing a FALSE DOWRY CASE on the MAN, his friends and families. If for a while we assume that the law is not misused, then also this serves a very lesser purpose as conviction under this law is very difficult, for it needs to be proved the said HARASSMENT for the UNLAWFUL DEMAND was of such nature that it was of danger to the life and limb of the complainant or that it drove the complainant to suicide to the satisfaction of the court beyond reasonable doubt. So we have terms like “satisfaction of the court” and “beyond reasonable doubt” which are highly contentious and interpretation dependent and also difficult to PROVE, DISPROVE or term the accusations and allegations as NOT PROVED.

Hence even if the case is true, justice is hard to be delivered. And the case being true, it is the girl here who has been harassed and yet the chances of she getting justice will be very meek. And for a false case, there is no question of imparting justice to the girl as no harassment as alleged has ever taken place and real justice should be meted out to the boy’s family which never happens in a great country like India which assumes that all daughters-in-law are true to the core and all in-laws of complaining and cribbing girls have never uttered a word of truth in their whole life. As has been repeatedly highlighted that filing a false case is gross misuse of IPC 498A and we have also seen even if the case is true, justice is far to be sought.

The retrospective effects of such a case are far reaching and case based. Firstly it is a lifetime blow to the husband, a stab in the back from someone as close to heart as SPOUSE, LIFE PARTNER. Hence the moral and emotional setback is always there. To add to it, the stereotypic and orthodox mindset of the society that a MAN must have done something TERRIBLY BAD to deserve this kind of treatment. This is a result of age long hypnotization and mass brain wash by the feminists to lead into the whole world believing that women are VICTIMS for no fault of theirs and men are PERPETRATORS of violence without rhyme and reason. With such a one – sided ubiquitously stereotypic mentality prevailing world over and especially within and amongst the legislative and executive machinery, it becomes almost next to impossible for the MAN to prove his innocence, in spite of the fact that he possesses evidences to support his claim otherwise. Such an atmosphere can have wide and varied effects. We shall study those under two categories.

Men who have not yet fathered their offspring: -

For these men, the story is relatively simpler since they do not have the emotional kickback of a child. Also the fact that they have been saved from fathering a new born from a devilish woman gives much solace to them which can transform into the much needed courage to ensue the ever – impending fight. But depending on individuality and circumstances, these FALSE CASES can either kill the manhood or give it a push. Moreover men falsely implicated in such cases seem to lose faith in the institution of marriage completely, especially if the marriage is less than a year old before the case is filed. Such euphoria in the society can lead to severe and irrevocable deterioration of the trust and faith on marriage, the institution which has been the foundation of family life since time immemorial. It is not only those men who are themselves directly involved in such cases but also other unmarried men around such men like their younger brothers, first cousins and close friends who watch the MAN go through the abuse, tend to loose the confidence on MARRIAGE, and refrain from tying the knot. They tend to develop a sense of insecurity getting married as they see rendering themselves liable to be made easy scapegoats of this LEGAL TERRORISM. Moreover they don’t really need to get married to be embroiled in the abuse, as any of their brother’s or cousin’s or for that matter any friends’ wife can also drag them into a false case saying these men were hand in gloves with her husband in ‘torturing her for dowry’.

This view holding true for men who resolve to fight the misuse, we will now see the effects of such a false case on the MAN who gives in to the misuse and either accepts the DEMANDS of the girl or settles for money. Such men not only loose their self-esteem and sense of manhood, leading the life of a henpecked husband but also carry the self-remorse and guilt of setting a bad example and contributing to the spread of misuse indirectly. Whereas the blame for such a conduct on part of the MAN cannot be directly attributed to him as has been already iterated that - “in majority of the cases, the metamorphosis of a happily married man to a legal fighter dies prematurely and the matter ends with a monetary compromise” – the reasons for the death of the metamorphosis is another big topic over which volumes of analysis can be represented. For now we look into the effects of the death of the metamorphosis. And such a man who has conceded to the demands, and has not yet fathered an offspring, when actually does so, cannot set an example of a brave MAN and the offspring shall grow up to see a henpecked man and will carry the traits as such. If she is a girl, she will expect her prospective husband also to be such and if he is a boy, he will realize this as a way of life. So we see a wrong trend being set in the society where giving in to the wife’s illogical demands is considered LIBERATION of WOMEN and not doing so results in her HARASSMENT for which we have the law called IPC 498A, and thus a vicious circle is created wherein the misuse self-feeds itself and grows to be a self-nourished monster devouring the demographics and essences of a sane and awake society.

Another ill-effect of such a false case is the wreckage and deterioration of the intellectual property of the country. It has been observed as a norm that these cases are filed to extort money from high earning people in the corporate world especially the software industry which consists of people having an elevated and sharpened intellect and a relatively higher IQ. Also such cases are filed within 5 years of marriage which means that the MAN is either in his late twenties or early thirties which is a very critical juncture of his career. Embroiling young people for an average of 5 – 7 years in such false cases, where conviction can lead to complete ruin of an illustrious career, can be a dealing and yielding blow to the intellectual property, as the man will spend his time, money and energy towards saving his skin from a stereotypically biased system which has refused to move ahead with times. The investments, read time, money and energy, that the man would have otherwise spent on more useful means is now being forced to be wasted to salvage oneself from an effort to ruin the life of the man in particular and society in general.

These were some of the effects and consequences that a false case can have on the people around and the actual victim, the MAN involved in it. Though they cater in general to men whether fathers or not, we will now proceed to look into the same for fathers in particular.

Men who have fathered their offspring: -

The battle is tougher for these people. For, in addition to fight against the legal system and prove themselves innocent for an offense they did not commit, they also need to muster courage to fight against one more thing, the natural emotion of fatherhood as these unfortunate men are deprived of the time they deserve with their children not only by their vindictive wives but also by the judicial system. Long live the Indian Judicial System, which still believes that only mothers can take better care of children and also force the fathers to stay away from their offspring. The judiciary neither believes in shared and joint parenting nor contesting the case on merits. And the brunt of the fallacy is borne by those fathers who not only carry the false sense of guilt of a crime NOT committed, but also have to kill their fatherhood for feeding a marriage devouring monster called the FALSE DOWRY CASE.

There have been umpteen number of instances wherein the fathers are not only blackmailed in the name of their children but also are forced to compromise for the well-being of the child and in spite of the compromise being undertaken, the men are deprived of their child’s love. And in such cases it is not only the men who suffer, innocent silent sufferer’s cries go unheard who are not only unaware of the system, but also suffer at the hands of a vindictive woman who uses the child as a bargain tool to get her illegal way out legally. And the saddest part of the whole bitter truth is that the whole drama is passed off in the legislative atmosphere as WOMEN LIBERATION and EMPOWERMENT OF THE WEAKER SEX.

Sometimes MEN are just threatened of false cases to be lodged against them in case they make an attempt to meet their children. The Indian Penal Code has provided for visitation rights to Men to meet their children, who are separated from their spouses, but it is a long legal battle for the men before they get visitation rights which is again just for a couple of hours on weekends and that too mostly in the court premises where the MEN are not even allowed to bring anything for their children. If they make an attempt to increase meeting hours of visitation they are again threatened with false cases. All this is a toll on the man already but these women and the system fail to notice and understand that how a child who is deprived of the parental love, that he / she not only deserves but also needs very much for a normal upbringing, develops deep and irrevocable mental scars in his / her early days which are lifelong and play major role in the development of the child’s personality and behavioral pattern.

It is not the only bitter fact that the child and the father are not allowed to meet, the time the child is with the mother, she brainwashes the child against the father. There have been cases where the child does not even recognize their own father and has designated them as UNCLES. The child will grow with a falsely imbibed and viciously superimposed sense of hatred and non – belonging towards his / her father and day the child becomes a father, in case the child is a male, will be non – responsive and indifferent towards his children for he as a child was only shown that a MAN is indifferent towards his children. He was never shown the suffering his FATHER went through in staying separate from his own prodigy for no fault on his part except for the fact that he was a responsible, loving and caring man.

These are just some of the consequences of a false case on the child, the MAN and his friends and relatives. There are many far – reaching consequences of such cases which will affect the social, familial, and the economic health of the Indian society in general and individuals in particular. All those who are right now patronizing this misuse and allowing it to spread in order to realize their ulterior motives of power hunger and political urge need to understand that they are slowly digging their own grave and there shall befall a day in their lives when there won’t be a single soul to cremate their rotten bodies. All those who are undergoing the misuse being its victims and are standing up to fight it shall turn out to be better human beings, who could turn an obstacle in their lives into an opportunity.

IPC 498A

IPC 498A – The most draconian law ever framed and a provision of the Indian Penal Code highly misused till date has been conferred the honor of breaking Indian families all over the world. From a definition and layman point of view, it seems a very productive and needed law. It has defined HARASSMENT of the MARRIED WOMAN or any of her relatives, herein referred to as harassment, to meet any UNLAWFUL DEMAND by the husband and / or his relatives as a cognizable offence and if proved guilty under trial can lead to imprisonment up to 3 years and / or fine. But all is not said and done with this law. There are gory loopholes in its definition, interpretation and implementation which can have far-reaching consequences legally, ethically, morally, emotionally, socially which are detrimental to the very existence of this society, whose welfare was upheld as the basis in the framing of such a draconian provision. Sounds, strange, ironical, but is surprisingly true as well. Let us have a look at how the law qualifies itself to be placed under the contentious category of DRACONIAN LAWS. We shall start with its definition and loopholes in this article and end with its consequences in the sequel to this one. Remain hooked to this space.

IPC 498A describes the harassment as a

1) Non - Bailable

2) Cognizable

3) Non Compoundable

offence. Now let us have a look into the details of the above terms. The problems with the above aspects of IPC 498A shall be dealt with shortly.

1) Non – Bailable: As soon as the case is made prima – facie, the accused shall be arrested and kept in judicial custody and bail will be given only by a 1^st class metropolitan magistrate, which shall be at the discretion of the magistrate, who shall have the powers to look into the case and decide thereupon.

2) Cognizable: The accused shall be presumed GUILTY until PROVEN INNOCENT. It also puts the burden of proof to innocence on the accused, i.e., if someone has been accused of the UNLAWFUL DEMAND, as described above shall need to prove that such a demand HAS NOT BEEN MADE for acquittal. It also gives the power of arrest to the police without any arrest warrant, who can arrest the accused, if necessary, after proper investigation.

3) Non Compoundable: The complaint, of such a nature, leading to an offence under IPC 498A once made cannot be taken back by the complainant.

Having described the marketable features of this law, we will now proceed to study the loopholes contained therein. But before that let us see, how one can make a case under this law. All it needs is a written / verbal complaint from the MARRIED WOMAN or any of her relatives or any other person on her behalf or any Govt. recognized NGO to the local police against the in – laws of the MARRIED WOMAN. The FIR will be registered by the police after necessary investigation by the police and once the FIR is registered the accused will be required to be arrested and produced before the jurisdictional magistrate within 24 hours.

No where does the law define any provision for verifying the tenacity and genuinity of the complaint made or its nature, nor does it say anything about the penalty of filing a false case under this section and getting innocents arrested and unleashing a mayhem of mental torture on them. These two aspects compounded with the above definitive aspects of this law are the prime deciding factors which have been contributing to its wide and rampant misuse by unscrupulous people looking for an opportunity to make a cut by falsely implicating innocents and bargaining with them for money or other demands.

As it is very easy to file a case under this section, and very hard for the accused to get a bail or avoid the case being filed against them without acceding to the demands of the complainant and all the more hard to get the accused convicted given the loose interpretive definition of a plethora of terms in its definition, the most feasible route to use this law to ones criminalist advantages is to file a false complaint against husband and in – laws and get them arrested and fake a physical injury to deny bail to the accused in order to break them down morally and spiritually so that the fear of a trial in spite of being innocent, subsequent potential conviction and the killing fear of social ostracism drives them to a compromise and then the case is quashed, or settled out of the court. This seemingly lucrative possibility of the out of the court settlement, ending in a monetary transaction from the righteous to the not so righteous, is the most attractive bonanza acting as the lifeblood of the virus called FALSE DOWRY CASE which gives unscrupulous and anti – family elements to get their way ahead legally and be termed as a COMPLAINANT and HARASSED and COMPENSATED after the monetary settlement is executed.

We will now examine the loopholes in this law which has led to such a wide magnitude of misuse of this law spanning geographies, Diaspora and time zones as has been corroborated by statistics and figures by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which show that 98 % of the cases are false and yet every four minutes a husband is arrested, every day an innocent child is arrested and every three hours a senior citizen is thrust unto jail under this section.

1) Case gets registered on a mere complaint. Nowadays it is not very uncommon that girls are forced to marry by their parents to well settled, nicely educated, high profile, wonderfully placed, money minting ATM machines, and these parents of the girls also spend lavishly in the marriage viewing it from a ROI (Returns on Investments) point of view. No sooner after the marriage the girl realizes that she is no longer happy in the marriage because the DREAMS she was shown prior to the marriage by her parents (often to convince her for the marriage) are mere DREAMS never meant to be realized, she starts complaining and the girls’ parents too think it as an opportunity knocking and start planning a case against the guy and his family. This sets the background for the case which gets registered sooner or later on a mere complaint. Since the innocent guy is busy shredding his perspiration giving his best shot at keeping his ATM machine full, he is caught totally unaware when the disaster strikes, let alone his parents who might not have dreamed such an ordeal even in the wildest of their nightmares, and in majority of the cases, the metamorphosis of a happily married man to a legal fighter dies prematurely and the matter ends with a monetary compromise.

2) As a monetary settlement is a very easy way out, even the executors of the legislative and the executive machinery in the law and order scenario, eyeing an opportunity in the available CUT, this misuse is patronized by them leading to its legalization under the false paradoxical sugar coated veil of WOMAN EMPOWERMENT and LIBERATION OF WOMEN. Also the Apex Court has now named this ongoing misuse as LEGAL TERRORISM.

3) Long live the Indian Legal System (still living in the dark ages), cases remain pending for years and are not settled, so the outcome of the trial happens like one in a million, hence conviction being next to impossible, the girls’ side in tandem with the legislative and executive machinery squeeze out the juice from the Man’s purse and have a field day.

4) The reason for initiating such a case as explained in the first point is just one of the many reasons leading to filing of such cases. There can be umpteen number of such reasons like, adultery, extra – marital affair, unwanted pregnancy, incestuous relationship of the girl with some of her family member, unexplained desire for no interference and financial control, extreme greed, leveling of petty marital discords under the devilish influence of false ego, pre-marital undisclosed mental disorders like Bipolar Disease, Borderline Personality Disorder, Delusional Disorder, Extreme mood swings to name a few. Under such scenarios it becomes very handy for the girls and their families to file a FALSE DOWRY CASE and get out of the marriage having made an obnoxious and inauspicious fortune.

5) But whatever be the reason, the undue sentimental balance of the legislative and executive machinery towards a particular class of women, the ease with which the case can be filed, the ease with which, on the basis of mere complaint of a lady, whose character and integrity remains to be questioned, one whole family ranging from small innocent children to pregnant sisters to aged, dependent and ailing parents are held at ransom and made to undergo unprecedented and uncalled for fury, wrath, torture, harassment, humiliation, character assassination, and many more atrocities, is also one of the major contributing factors to the spread of this family breaking disease called FALSE DOWRY CASE.

6) When we are small, we are taught many things by our parents, and other elders in the family. And sometimes it becomes necessary that we are punished as well to ensure that certain forbidden actions are never repeated nor a habit is made out of them. But as they say, TRUTH is STRANGER than FICTION, there is no, absolutely no punishment for filing a FALSE DOWRY CASE committing a crime of such a heinous nature. Rather, on the contrary, our honorable ministers are passing away the misuse falsely as a minor percentage and citing, “Mistake of facts” as the reason for the MINOR MISUSE they say is happening around. Will be covering more on the “Mistake of facts” syndrome in the sequel. This absence of punishment for alleging abuse falsely is the next major factor breast – feeding the monster called FALSE DOWRY CASE. The girls’ side very well knows that they have nothing to loose absolutely and hence they are all the more salivated to taste this piece of cake like a Labrador eyeing a bone.

7) On a brief note, the next reason lubricating the machinery of this racket of legal terrorism and legal extortion is the violation of the basic Human Rights Principle advocated by Amnesty International regarding the presumption of guilt on part of the accused. It says, the accused are to presumed INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, while this law presumes GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT.

These are just some of the loopholes explained in brief which have cumulatively led to the spread of this disease called FALSE DOWRY CASE. There can be many more such loopholes which I might have missed / overlooked. Rest remains to be seen are the consequences of this misuse which will be covered shortly in the next article arriving at the nearest explorer very soon. Keep watching this space.

Expectancy vs. Acceptance

Dissatisfaction, disillusionment and fractured promises have become the buzzwords these days to reflect the state of most urban Indian nuclear families. Fingers are pointed out at the slightest provocation to highlight the differences between Expectancy and Acceptance. Two words which form the tirade of motion of nearly all troubles and stresses of modern urban uber fast life.

What we often fail to realize is the delicate balance between these two words is what determines the happiness quotient in not only our daily personal lives but also in the society at large. Gradually as we are progressing on the material front, making waves in the technological scenario, the Expectancy level is depicting an uphill trend, while the Acceptance potential has been giving in itself to gravity and taking a plunge at an alarming rate. We expect more and more and it does not stop at that, we also expect our expectations to be realized and materialized, even at the cost of others’ lives and happiness and emotions. And most of us, who, simply do not want to accept the reality, continue to live in the dreams and all our efforts are streamlined to make this dream a reality rather than letting a dream remain a dream.

The most visible relationship where this ever widening split in the “Expectancy level and Acceptance potential” has been manifesting itself and contributing drastically to the rising stress level is the matrimonial relationship. It is this relationship wherein often two individuals coming from totally different upbringings, decide to spend their lives together pledging to contribute towards each other’s emotional and material needs. It is this relationship wherein there is an urgent requirement to bridge the pre-existing gap between the “Expectancy level and Acceptance potential” with a very patient and tolerating sense of maturity and understanding. It is this relationship where there is a very large scope for the existence of Expectations from the spouse and it is this relationship where there is a very high demand for the existence of the sense and sensibilities to accept the limitations of the spouse. And it is the presence of this tension amidst the scope and demand that defines the driving force of the most interesting relationship in material world. The driving force, referred to, can either make or mar the decorum of the relationship. Where the said scope and demand dynamics work hand in hand a positive energy, a synergy, is generated which contributes in pumping lifeblood into the relationship. On the contrary, where the said scope and demand dynamics work out of sync, the relationship suffers, is either deteriorated jeopardizing the “Happiness Quotient” of family life or breaks down to a premature and unnatural death.

The only way to utilize this synergy is to maintain a healthy balance between the Expectancy and Acceptance. One needs to learn to accept before expecting. Seeing the increasing number of divorces / unhappy marriages and also respecting the fact that a great number of these are attributed to the presence of a one-sided legal laws related to marriage, open to widespread manipulation by the “protected” party, it has become an established fact that the “Expectancy level” of the modern “wife” has risen, and “Acceptance potential” has dropped to alarmingly dangerous levels. Coming future is definitely going to witness a sharp increase in such cases if nothing is going to be done to curb this menace called “Legal Terrorism” by the Honorable Supreme Court. The society needs to be educated about the “Expectancy level and Acceptance potential” syndrome. Let us spread this message to corners far and wide of the humanity ocean and be a radical catalyst responsible for bringing a change responsible for the betterment of the society.

Reconciliation

Marriage as an institution has always been highly placed in the Indian sociological scenario. It has been always been seen as the first step towards settled life and laying the foundation of family. But as they say, “All human troubles start from the inability to sit quietly in a room,” this so called sacred institution has its own dark side. Where, on one hand, marriage provides a platform to two individuals coming from totally different backgrounds and albeit different mindsets to come together, understand each other and be each others support in life, financially, morally, spiritually, emotionally and physically, it has its own uninvited share of problems. The most talked of and debatable of the problems associated with marriage is DOWRY. Sometimes the girls’ family give dowry as a pre-assumption that the boys’ family shall keep the girl happy and sometimes it is seen from the boys side as compensation to take care of the girl. With increasing reports from the media about the torture meted out to the Indian Daughter-in-law about dowry harassment and deaths due to it, the Govt. of India formulated the Dowry Prohibition Act in 1961 and introduced Section 498A in the Indian Penal Code in the year 1983, wherein harassment of the ‘wife’ for dowry was named as a criminal offence and extremely strict measures were provided within its ambit to protect the ‘Married Woman’ from the clutches of money-hungry dowry demanders. It just required a written unverified complaint from the girl or any relative on behalf of the girl to file a criminal case against the ‘HUSBAND’ and his family members and they would be arrested immediately and sent to judicial custody until either they were bailed out or chargesheeted and trial ensued. But it was a very big catch there, since the provision gave the police discretionary powers of arrest, and that too on an unverified complaint, as also filing a false complaint under this offense and leveling false accusations against the HUSBAND and his family did not attract any punishment on the girl or her parents, a lot of false complaints have started pouring in.

The police have a field day as they get a golden chance to make money from both sides for settling the dispute and the girls’ side get an upper hand as they can now extort money from the husbands’ family using the criminal case, the fear of police, arrest, and social stigma associated with jail as a weapon. Cases where money is not a prime concern, such a false case has been used by the girls’ side to get their unjust demands conceded, like staying separate from the boys’ parents, siphon boys’ hard earned money to girls’ parents if the boy is rich / well to do, or to end a relationship where the ‘expectations’ of the girl were not met, or to break a marriage to marry someone else whom the girl is in love with, or to get custody of children, and a plethora of such reasons. But it is not always the girls’ side that has to be blamed, many a times it has been found that the girls and their family have been ill-advised and misguided by unscrupulous and insincere lawyers who are out to make their own money. There have been cases where the judges also force the boy to compromise. And in such cases and many more, the girls repent for having taken such a step and they hope for reconciliation and want to arrive at a compromise. And so we have the next obvious big question, “What should the man do, reconcile or not with a wife who has a filed a false case of dowry harassment?” So we will take a peek at that possibility, its chances of occurrence and possible / fearful repercussions.

If the boy decided to take the girl back, then on one side it looks like a marriage has been saved and both of them have given a second thought to the relationship despite considerable differences and this shall highlight the importance of the institution of marriage as also shall throw light on the necessity of tolerance, acceptance and adjustment to make a relation work. Also it shall save the courts from being overburdened with another case and both the families from the headache of another marriage. In case the couple had children, they would be spared the tragedy of a single parent, as for a successful upbringing the child needs both the parents as has been corroborated by a study in US that children brought up by single mom have a increasing tendency and majority of them turning out to be criminals when they grow up. It will also set an example to others about how a relation can be saved.

Having said that, let us have a look at the other side of the coin. It has to kept in mind that the dowry case is false and the allegations has been fabricated and a severe breach of trust has been committed by the ‘wife’, leading to severe deterioration of the economical, emotional, and reputational health of the HUSBAND and his family. If a woman can walk into the police station and levy false accusations on the husband and forces him to concede to her ‘DEMAN DS’ deemed as ‘JUST’ by an explanation sounding logic to her ears, taking undue advantage of a law that has been made to protect the ‘WEAKER’ women, this thought of bringing such a woman back into one’s life shall invite justifiable contention. When already she has crossed the line, what is the guarantee that she will not cross it again or she will not cross it again with a larger fury? The first time she filed the complaint in a fit of immaturity and had not done her homework properly and therefore could not get what she wanted and thus offers the bait of compromise to be able to enter the house again and plan a proper route to jail for her husband and her in-laws. She will collect evidence in her favor, humiliate in-laws and instigate them to create a scene of violence, for when a woman gets vindictive she gets very dangerous and ruins everyone around her, including self. She can forge drama that there has been attempt to her life and limb by any means like, cutting her hands, or setting her sari on fire and dousing it and portraying it as act to murder her and all she has to do is to utter the word, ‘DOWRY’ in front of the police and the in-laws are behind bars and in deep shit, even if they are innocent and the woman shall have the power to make them dance at her whims and fancies.

Bringing her back, would also empower her by granting access to your possessions (financial instruments, emotions, attachments) to a serpentine creature, who can misuse them to the core. It will set a bad example in a society encouraging other women to resort to such tactics and rule their husband’s life and family. We need to keep in mind that no law can run a household and once the petty marital discords have been shaded legally, the relationship has been murdered in all practical aspects and it is just a matter of time before it is dead on paper. Even if the couple has children and they reconcile for the children, it will be very hard for the couple to stay peacefully, the grudge shall always remain, howsoever the husband is mature and understanding and those children shall always see their parents fighting and will fail to develop faith in the institution of marriage. Expectations should have a limit. If the woman expects that she will keep dancing and choreographing her husband’s and in-laws’ movements and ultimately when she fails, she should be forgiven and provided one more chance, then it has to borne in mind that the MAN had been tagged a criminal for no fault of his and he and his family has gone through a stage of tremendous trauma, stress and unwanted, unforeseen and uninvited hardships, all thanks to the false complaint filed by the wife. It involves monetary loss (perhaps recoverable), emotional draining (irrecoverable and leaves incurable mental scars), reputational assassination (recoverable only to a certain extent, and that too depends on how the individual handles it and perceives it). There has to be accountability for such huge losses and inflictions and effective means to curb such a menace.

With this note, I leave it to the readers to decide whether they would like to reconcile and die a death every day or fight back the menace, contribute their bit to create awareness and save other families and emerge an overall winner in life. I will end this article with a final analogy. A wife who has filed a false criminal case on her husband to settle petty scores and money extortion can be compared with this situation. Imagine someone stuck badly in city traffic and has an urgent nature's call to attend to and at the same time feeling thirsty and wants to have water. The water that was present in the body has been marked as waste and he needs to get rid of it and at the same time he needs some fresh water to quench his thirst. As long as the waste water remains in his body, he will feel uneasy and those toxins in the waste water shall start ruining his system slowly. He needs water, but cannot use the water present in his body; he has to get rid of it. The waste water is a wife who files such a case. In order to carry on in life properly, the man has to get rid of such a wife as soon as possible. The fresh water is new life for the man, the definition and demographics of which are context dependent and individual defined.