What should your complaint include?
Details of marriage including wedding card, marriage certificate, photos, videos etc.
Name(s) of accused persons and their details like addresses and passports etc.
Details of harassment like duration, time period, place and type of harassment.
Details of demand of dowry, if any.
Bank statement, if you have drawn dowry from the bank.
Details of the cheque if you have paid the dowry in that form.
Details of the person to whom it was handed over.
In case of physical violence, details of injuries and type of weapon.
Doctor″s prescription or case sheets of the treatment of such injuries.
Details of the elders who had arranged the marriage and who tried to patch up the differences.
Places where the mediation/counselling sessions were held.
Details of witnesses, especially independent witnesses and your own children.
Any written agreements during marriage.
Details of gifts in the form of movable property like jewels/cash/garments/vehicles and immovable property like plots/flats.
Any written/voice communication between the partners, the victim and the parents in the form of letters, emails, voice records etc.
Reasons for the delay in lodging the complaint, if any.
Signature of the victim and contact number.
Help us prevent abuse of 498(A) and strengthen your case:
Always remember! No counselling is better than the couple and their kids thrash it out among themselves.
To err is human! Mistakes can take place from both the sides. One should not misuse any law to cover one′s own mistake.
Try counselling on both of you before you decide to knock the doors of police station.
Never exaggerate what had happened to you. In other words, be clear, frank and specific about the issue.
Never include the persons who are NOT connected with the harassment. Be honest.
Always remember! 498A is not a law to take revenge but punish those responsible for harassment severely so that others learn a lesson.
There are many vested interests around to take undue advantage of your helplessness. They might misguide you by exaggerating the facts, adding those who are unconnected with the harassment to the list of accused, exaggerating the amount of dowry etc.
Should you need help in expressing your woes, please take the help of reputed voluntary organisations or help lines only. Avoid the unscrupulous persons who always promise you to get your dowry amount back and extort money from the accused side and dilute your case.
Ensure your presence while someone drafts the complaint for you and ask him to read it out before you lodge it in the P.S.
Some victims are misguided to exaggerate the contents of the complaint in order to make it a STRONG case. The truth is entire strength of the case hinges on quality of evidence that is provided by the victim. If the contents of the complaint are not supported by the facts on the ground, cases become very weak and genuine victims suffer.
If any policeman or the officer concerned demands money for investigating the case and arrest the accused, do not give in. Bring it to the notice of his or her superiors.
Never forget that both the daughter and daughter in law deserve similar affection and care.
Remember! 498A is not a tool to force the other party for divorce. There are so many of other legal procedures to find solutions to the incompatibilities in the marriage.
498A is also not a tool to get the custody of children. There are other alternate legal methods for this.
Never force the police to arrest the accused on same day of lodging complaint as gathering credible evidence takes some time. However, you can help the police expedite the investigation by providing most of the evidence at the time of lodging complaint itself.
If you have the information that the accused are planning to leave the country, you can always bring it to the notice of the concerned investigating officer without delay. Police can alert all the international airports or sea ports for their detention, if needed.
If you are a parent, lodge a complaint only after you ascertain the facts in detail from your daughter. Her statement is vital for the investigation.
Conviction rate in 498A cases is very poor in the country as a whole. There are many reasons for this. You can help us improve this by NOT retracting during trial from what you have said during investigation.