Arrests under sec 498a continue to this date even though the wife is alive !!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Men_at_the_receiving_end_of_anti-dowry_law_in_Orissa/articleshow/2381633.cms

Men at the receiving end of anti-dowry law in Orissa

19 Sep 2007, 0241 hrs IST,TNN

 BHUBANESWAR: According to Orissa's State Commission for Women, dozens of cases of husbands and in-laws getting punished on the basis of mere accusations of torture for dowry and a complaint under Section 498A of the IPC have come to light in the state.

"Many women are using 498A of the IPC (anti-dowry law) to terrorise their husbands and his families. A large number of cases filed under the dowry laws are fake. It's a cruel and wicked design to blackmail husbands and in-laws," chairperson of State Commission for Women Namita Panda said.

Take the case of Srikant Sahu, a 35-year-old software engineer. He and his elderly parents spent about a month in jail after his wife accused him and her in-laws of torture for dowry. Cases were filed under Section 498A of the IPC, the accused were arrested without investigation and without a chance to defend themselves.

Later, investigations revealed that it was all a hoax. Sahu's wife had chosen the anti-dowry law to settle a minor score with her husband and in-laws. Sahu was exonerated by a court. But by that time he had lost his job and his family all its social standing and reputation. There was no penalty imposed on the complainant.

In another case, Goura Kishore Tripathy, an Infosys executive based in Bhubaneswar, pre-empted similar fate by knocking on the doors of the State Commission for Women against his wife for "torturing him and his parents, both mentally and physically".

Tripathy said his wife, who had left him more than a year ago, was not willing to return. "Our two-year-old daughter is suffering as a result," he pleaded before the commission.

The list of such cases, according to the commission is long. Abdul Hakim of Bhubaneswar complained that his wife was torturing him by denying him sex. That, he complained to the commission, was causing him extreme trauma and humiliation.

The SCW, Panda said, started getting such complaints in 2002. And by 2002-2005, the number rose to 559. "Of these, 388 have been resolved, and the rest are being fought. After that, we did not hear something like this for some time, but from May 2007, we have got 38 fresh cases," she told TOI.

Social activists are not quite ready to believe that men are victims of domestic violence. "In our social set-up, a woman cannot really torture a man. There are always exceptions, but it is wrong to say that torture of men by women is rising," said women's activist Anuradha Mohanty.

Panda disagrees: "In the past couple of years, there has been a perceptible increase in the number of such men - bullied and blackmailed, tormented and terrorised. It is true that we have a whole lot of wicked women who misuse their legal weapon." And here's the last word from her: "Contrary to popular belief, torture of men does not take place in urban areas only. It is rampant in villages also."