The dowry system has been prevailing in India for centuries now. The bigger the dowry the happier the relatives used to be. With the growing times, and with better education, there can be seen a peculiar divide, on one side we have the modern families who have discarded the ritual of dowry giving / taking all together while on the other side we still have those who have been carrying down the regressive and age-old tradition and think of dowry as their monetary right on the girl's family. But the laws in our country are not primitive anymore and have adapted themselves to prevent such an extortionist tradition. This is where the 498A and 406 complaints come into play.

Section 498-A can only be invoked by a wife, a daughter-in-law, or their relatives. This section is non-bailable, non-compoundable, and cognizable. This section was inserted in the Indian Penal Code due to the offences arising from matrimonial discords in a marriage and protection of women from domestic violence. Cruelty is not restricted to physical cruelty but mental, emotional, and economic abuse is also within its fold.

a) Any willful conduct which is of nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to her life, limb, or health (whether physical or mental) of the woman

b) Harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coerce her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.

Another important section of the penal code is Section 406 i.e. punishment for criminal breach of trust. This is the section that protects a woman's right upon her Stridhan. Every woman is the sole owner of and has the sole right to the jewellery, gold, silver, utensils, gifts, property, assets, etc. that she gifted before, during, or at the time of her marriage, including any such article or gift, that she may have received from her in-laws as well. Therefore, in the event that anyone, be it her husband or her in-laws, at any given point of time, try to take the said articles / gifts away from the woman and keep them, or try to use them without her consent, or try to sell it off without her will, then the woman who is affected by it can make use of this section, and if any of the reasons mentioned earlier turn out to be true, then the guilty party may be imprisoned for up to 3 years and may even have to pay a fine. It is thus important that women are aware of sections 498A and 406.

We at AnaghaLegal ensure that the social objective of the enactment is protected such as no relative shall be subjugated and mistreated by virtue of Section 498A merely because of suspicion without substantial evidence to support the allegations. We ensure that no such acts are been misused and the process of law is been abused. While we protect the harassed women, we also provide a shield to the innocent male against whom the laws are been misused and used only to settle the scores or for vengeance.