Manjunathan Padmanabhan, a hardware engineer, spent three harrowing days in Parappana Agrahara, sharing cell space with thieves and murderers. His crime? Accepting dowry. Now, in perhaps a first-of-its-kind case, the 34-year- has turned the tables on his wife and her family by filing a counter complaint for giving him dowry. The Dowry Prohibition (DP) Act states that both giving and accepting dowry is an offence punishable by law, and Section 3 of the Act speaks about the “penalty for giving or taking dowry”. But while cases of husbands and their family members spending time in jail for receiving dowry are dime a dozen, rarely — if ever — has a dowry giver been punished.
In his complaint against his wife and in-laws, Padmanabhan, a resident of Ulsoor, has used the same statements made by his wife's relatives in their complaint against him three years ago. Ulsoor police registered an FIR on April 17.
In his complaint, Padmanabhan states that he was married to R Ashwini on September 2, 2009. His wife had filed a complaint against him on September 8, 2010 stating that she was harassed for dowry and that Padmanabhan was paid 119.75 grams of gold, 11 pieces of silverware and cash of Rs 25,000, Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000 on January 2, 2010, July 5, 2010 and July 20, 2010 respectively. A case was filed against him under 498(A) of the IPC and under Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
In her complaint, Ashwini claimed that she and her family had also given Padmanabhan a suit in dowry. Her brother's statement claimed they had given cash on three occasions. The complaint was filed in the same police station (Ulsoor) and the complaint and the memo of evidence given by his in-laws are part of the station records. He claims he obtained all the necessary documents from the station through the Right to Information Act.
Padmanabhan is now seeking action against all family members who admitted to giving him dowry. “Since offenders and abettors themselves admitted/claimed to have given dowry, it is submitted further that all these records and details are already with you,” Padmanabhan has stated in his complaint.
Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Padmanabhan said, “My father-in-law is a Central government employee. He knows giving dowry is a crime. He, along with his family, has admitted to giving me dowry. That is the crux of their complaint and police statements against me. They have admitted to committing a crime before a police officer and the police have to take action against those persons. I am only stating what the law says.”
When contacted for his reaction, Ashwini's father, A Ramesh Babu, the main accused in Padmanabhan’s complaint, said, “I have not paid any dowry to him. Only a complaint of harassment for dowry was filed. The police might have changed my statement and added that I paid dowry. I do not know about the complaint filed against me.”
AK Mohan Krishna, an advocate who specialises in matrimonial disputes and who is unconnected to this case, said, “This is the first time that the police have registered a FIR against the wife's family for giving dowry. If it is only a demand for dowry, then only the provision of IPC Section 498(A) comes into play. If the wife and her family members have admitted to giving dowry, then they have committed a crime under the Dowry Prohibition (DP) Act. If they have stated that they have given dowry, they are clearly pleading guilty here. Though this provision of punishing those who give dowry is in the Act, in reality it has never been invoked. The same Act is used to punish husbands and their families who receive dowry. Police usually do not take such complaints. But this case seems to be very promising for men who are accused of taking dowry.”
