Supreme Court refuses to dilute arrest provision in dowry cases

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that courts cannot dilute the IPC Section 498A providing for arrest for dowry menace which is a cognisable offence.

CJI Dipak Misra, heading a three-judge bench, told a battery of lawyers seeking review of the July verdict framing guidelines for arrest, “Why should there be a guideline for an IPC provision? There can be a guideline for investigation but not for arrest. How can they supervise the arrest? We (court) are creating a jurisdiction beyond the statute, which only Parliament can do.”

The bench, which included Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, made this observation when senior counsel Indu Malhotra, assisting the court, pointed out that following the July order, the number of arrests have drastically come down in dowry related cases.

Giving a series of guidelines, the apex court in July ordered setting up of family welfare committee in each district. Any dowry related complaint should be referred to this committee, which will call the parties in person, make inquiries and submit a report to the magistrate concerned.

Nyayadhar, a women’s organisation, strongly opposed these directions and sought modification. It was pointed out that a married woman whenever goes to the police station to make a complaint against her husband and other close relations takes a risk to fight with society at large but being left with no other remedy against cruelty and harassment ultimately choose this last resort i.e. Section 498A of the IPC.

The CJI observed that since dowry was a cognisable offence, the court cannot issue guidelines for arrest.