Dowry case judgment went against women’s rights: SC to revisit own ruling that banned automatic arrests

Chief justice-led bench said July judgment, delivered to restrict false dowry cases, goes against women’s rights

india Updated: Oct 13, 2017 14:48 IST

Bhadra Sinha
Hindustan Times, New Delhi

The July order said all dowry harassment complaints had to be vetted by a committee before the accused could be arrested. (HT file photo)

The Supreme Court said on Friday it will revisit its July ruling restricting automatic arrests in dowry cases, saying the judgment went against women’s rights.

The top court had on July 27 laid down new guidelines that called for a committee to examine allegations of dowry harassment before local police can arrest the accused to tackle the problem of false cases.

“We do not agree with the judgement which laid down the guidelines,” the Chief Justice-led three-judge bench said on Friday.

The July 27 order received mixed response, with men’s and women’s rights activists on the either side of the debate. Women’s rights activists said the order weakened the fights against dowry, while people working for men’s groups said the order was important to stop growing misuse of the legislation.

Quoting the National Crime Records Bureau’s 2012 data, the bench too had in July taken note of the misuse. The NCRB report projected that out of the 3,72,706 cases pending trial in 2012, 3,17,000 would lead to acquittals.