CAN’T FRAME GUIDELINES ON FIRS FOR DOWRY HARASSMENT CASES: SC
Chief Justice Dipak Misra on Wednesday indicated to quash yet another 2-judge Bench’s judgment in July that has fixed a new set of guidelines to curb bogus dowry complaints, misusing Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code.
How can the Court frame guidelines on how to investigate a dowry case going beyond the statutory provisions already there in the IPC, asked the Bench which also included Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.
It decided to revisit the judgment of the 2-judge Bench headed by Justice A K Goel in which it had issued a slew of directions on dealing with dowry investigations. It fixed further hearing in the third week of January on the correctness of the judgment in the case of Rajesh Sharma versus Union of India when the matter was raised by senior advocates V Shekhar and Indu Malhotra as Amicus Curiae to stay the ruling.
They raised the issue when the Court was hearing a PIL by NGO Nyayadhar for directions to include two women members in the Family Welfare Committee supposed to be formed as per the Court’s July direction.
The Bench agreed with them that the guidelines were unnecessary when the statutory provisions are already there, but decided to still examine the other Bench’s ruling before taking a final view.
The Bench headed by Justice Goyal had expressed concern over a large number of cases filed alleging dowry harassment of married women and to remedy the situation, it directed “involvement of civil society in the aid of administration of Justice as one of the steps, apart from the investigating officers and the concerned trial courts being sensitized.” It also decided to facilitate closure of proceedings where a genuine settlement has been reached instead of parties being required to move High Court only for that purpose.”
The Chief Justice-headed Bench had last month itself said that it was not in agreement with the guidelines issued by the 2-judge Bench, saying “we can’t write law, we can only interpret the law.”
However, despite the looming possibility of the judgment in Rajesh Sharma’s case being overturned, the Delhi State Legal Services Authority has gone ahead setting up 3-member family welfare committees in all 11 districts in the capital. In view of the judgment in dispute, all complaints of dowry death, harassment or domestic violence made before the police or the magistrate would not be referred to these committees.
How can the Court frame guidelines on how to investigate a dowry case going beyond the statutory provisions already there in the IPC, asked the Bench which also included Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.