In public interest8217;, UP withdraws dowry case

MEERUT, AUG 21: For the Uttar Pradesh government, filing a case alleging harassment for dowry is against public interest' and deserves to...

MEERUT, AUG 21: For the Uttar Pradesh government, filing a case alleging harassment for dowry is against public interest8217; and deserves to be withdrawn. The BJP government has invoked its special powers to withdraw a case where a woman was allegedly harassed for dowry and thrown out when she was 6 months pregnant, her two-year-old daughter in tow.

This is the first instance in the country of a state government withdrawing a dowry case filed by the police, claims Veerendra Kumar, the advocate who8217;s representing the litigant, Roopali Rastogi. The UP government order dated July 17 states: 8220;The government after adequate consideration has decided to withdraw the case in public interest8230; The Hon8217;ble Governor has given permission to the prosecution to move an application in the judicial court to withdraw the case8221;. By August 2, the public prosecutor moved an application in court seeking permission to withdraw the case, ostensibly to 8220;maintain peace and harmony amongst the parties8221;.

Even as the court was in the process of framing charges against the accused, the Meerut Chief Judicial Magistrate, R.C. Chaudhry gave his go-ahead. According to Veerendra Kumar, the court had the discretion to refuse the government permission to withdraw the case and permit the proceedings to continue. Lawyers are wondering what the government8217;s interest is in invoking its special powers in an individual case, specially when it8217;s involves harassment for dowry.

Vitul Kumar, SP of Bishnoi district, confirmed that such a case had been filed, but said he couldn8217;t remember its exact details. The governor was unavailable for comment.

Roopali got married in January 1992. She alleges that her in-laws kept harassing her for dowry, but her husband supported her. The harassment increased in November 1992, when her husband8217;s sister Meenakshi lost her husband and came to stay with them. Roopali and her husband moved out, but after two years, returned to the in-laws house. The harrasment picked up from where it left off, says Roopali.

In June 1996, Roopali8217;s husband died in a road accident. Within eight days of his death, alleges Roopali, her in-laws forced her to sign on blank papers on the pretext of filing an accident claim case. On June 29, they filed a case in court for settlement of property, with the aim of transferring the property to her late husband8217;s brother Mukesh and his parents, she alleges. 8220;When my father objected, this angered them. On July 15, they threw me out of the house.8221; Roopali was six months pregnant at the time.

In October 1997, Roopali registered a case alleging harassment for dowry at the Mahila police station in Meerut. In November, the police filed a chargesheet in the magistrate8217;s court under Sec 498-A IPC cruelty by in-laws for dowry along with sec 323 causing hurt, 504 intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, 406 criminal breach of trust and 3/4 Dowry Act against Roopali8217;s father-in-law Mangal Sain, mother-in-law Nirmala Rastogi, brother-in-law Mukesh, his wife Archana and sister-in-law Meenakshi.

Story continues below this ad

The magistrate8217;s court sentenced the accused to three years imprisonment and fine under Sec 498-A, imprisonment for a year under sec-323, two years imprisonment under Sec 504 and three years imprisonment under Sec 406 IPC with fine or both in most cases. Roopali8217;s sister Shivali, a lecturer in a women8217;s degree college here, alleged that her sister8217;s in-laws then moved to get the case quashed, using their contacts with a prominent Moradabad-based BJP leader.

Roopali, who has done her MA and B.Ed, is now trying to piece together her life. Her second child, born after her husband8217;s death in September 1996, died within a week due to illness. She has now started taking private tuitions to support herself and her six-year-old daughter, Sohani.