Allahabad High Court lays down cooling period of two months before arrest in dowry cases, ignores Supreme Court’s precedents
Published on: 15 June 2022, 02:30 am
Justice Rahul Chaturvedi passed the slew of directions in view of what he called, allegations of misuse of section 498A of the IPC.
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IN a judgment, which is likely to trigger a controversy of sorts, the Allahabad High Court has directed the police not to arrest the accused in a dowry case till the conclusion of the "cooling period" which the high court has fixed for two months from the registration of the First Information Report[FIR]. This cooling period, however, is not mentioned in the Indian Penal Code [IPC] or the Criminal Procedure Code [CrPC].
Justice Rahul Chaturvedi who passed the slew of directions, added that during the "cooling period", the matter would be immediately referred to the Family Welfare Committee [FWC] in each district.
The judge clarified that only those cases would be transmitted to FWC in which Section 498-A IPC along with no injury, Section 307 and other sections of the IPC in which the imprisonment is less than 10 years, have been invoked.
On the role of the FWC, the judge said, every complaint or application under Section 498A IPC and other allied sections would be immediately referred to the Family Welfare Committee by the concerned Magistrate.
After receiving the said complaint or FIR, the Committee shall summon the contesting parties along with their four senior elderly persons to have personal interaction and would try to settle down the issue/misgivings between them within a period of two months from its lodging.
The contesting parties are obliged to appear before the Committee with their four elderly persons (maximum) to have a serious deliberation between them with the aid of members of the Committee, the judge said. Besides, he directed that the Committee, after having proper deliberations, would prepare a vivid report and would refer to the concerned Magistrate/police authorities to whom such complaints are being lodged after expiry of two months by inserting all factual aspects and their opinion in the matter.