Referring to the decision in the Lalita Kumari case, Friday's judgment said a constitution bench had suggested in that case, preliminary enquiry may be held in matrimonial/family disputes.
THE SUPREME Court on Friday scrapped its earlier direction to set up district-level committees to look into dowry harassment complaints before making arrests, saying this was “impermissible” and “not in accord with the statutory framework”.
To check misuse of IPC Section 498A – husband or relative of husband subjecting a married woman to cruelty – a two-judge bench of the top court in July 2017, in the case of Rajesh Sharma and others vs State of Uttar Pradesh and another, had directed that Family Welfare Committees (FWCs) be drawn up from para-legal volunteers, social workers, retired hands, wives of working officers or other willing citizens.
“Every complaint under Section 498A received by the police or a magistrate be referred to and looked into by such committee… Till report of the committee is received, no arrest should normally be effected,” it said.
The directive was criticised for allegedly diluting the spirit of Section 498A and subsequently a PIL was filed by an NGO…
