High court: Should runaway bride be barred from filing dowry, harassment plaints? | India News

CHANDIGARH: With a view to discouraging bogus dowry complaints, the Punjab and Haryana high court has asked whether a girl who has run away from home and got married against the wishes of her parents should be prohibited from raising any complaint against the boy, at least, on grounds of harassment and dowry.
The HC said, “This would entail reduction in lodging of bogus FIRs, which come into play the moment a matrimonial discord between a girl and boy occurs”.
The HC has made these observations while hearing a plea by a runaway married couple who had approached the court apprehending a threat to their life and liberty from relatives. The couple, residents of Amritsar, had solemnised their marriage in a Panchkula-based temple.
The HC observed it was strange that when the girl and the boy decided to run away from home, they were not under any threat but apprehended such risks subsequently, without any cogent basis, upon getting married.
The HC noted that the couple chose to get married at a Panchkula temple, which is almost 240km from Amritsar, and did not report any threat perception to any police station after running away from their homes.
“Such relationship(s), which start from litigation itself, at times are found to go in rough weather and then several FIRs are lodged by the girl side with regard to the demand of dowry harassment, domestic violence etc…,” the HC observed in its recent order. The hearing of the case was fixed for Tuesday but was adjourned to November 2 due to an ongoing lawyers’ strike. All parties, including the Punjab government, will have to submit replies to the queries raised by the bench that day.