In a rare incident, a court in Rajasthan directed the police on Monday to file a case against the father of a bride for giving dowry to the in-laws.
A metropolitan magistrate in Jodhpur gave the order after Ramlal, a former serviceman, insisted during the arguments that he had given adequate dowry and an envelope of cash worth Rs 1 lakh in the marriage of her daughter, Manisha, in 2017.
The father-in-law, Jethmal, a government teacher, denied the allegations, according to the defence counsel Brajesh Pareek.
"We argued that if taking dowry was a crime, giving dowry was also a crime and appealed to the court to direct the police to file a case against Ramlal also for giving dowry," Pareek said.
Admitting the appeal, Magistrate Richa Choudhary gave directions to the police to file a case against the bride's father for giving dowry. Further hearing in the case will continue.
Pareek said this was for the first time Section 3 of the Hindu Marriage Act had been exercised in a dowry case and directions issued to file a case against the person who gave the dowry.
Manisha got to a software engineer, Kailash, in 2017. A case was field by Ramlal alleging that his daughter's in-laws harassed her in the name of dowry and did not let her live with her husband, who works in Noida.
"When I took my daughter to Noida, Kailash did not accept her and pushed us away," Ramlal said in his complaint. He also alleged that her father-in-law nurtured ill-intentions for her.
Police completed the investigation in the matter and filed charge sheet in the court, where the arguments has been in progress.
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