Jeddah: A two-year-old baby girl is caught in a fight over domestic violence and dowry between her parents and grandparents and is stuck in the United Arab Emirates. It is said that her father has kept her with him, without allowing her mother to take her back home to Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, saying that he would let the child go only after the mother withdraws a dowry harassment case (498A of IPC) registered against him in India.
The case exemplifies a scenario that prevails over all states including Hyderabad, where a significant number of dowry harassment cases are pending and accused husbands living abroad. Every week Indian diplomatic missions in the gulf region receive complaints from victim wives where diplomats advise them to return home back to India and settle over there.
An offence under 498A is cognizable, non-compoundable, non-bailable and of a profoundly serious nature.
Non-compoundable offences are those that cannot be compromised. If the police register an FIR under Section 498A, investigate the matter, and file a charge sheet for the magistrate to take cognizance of the offence, the parties cannot settle the matter by themselves.
Often the NRI husband may decide never to step foot in India, not because he is guilty, but because his entire life will be at stake merely because he might be arrested for being accused (not convicted) of an offence under Section 498A.
An electrical engineer hailing from Srikakulam, working in a leading aluminium industry in Abu Dhabi, had married a woman from the same district in 2017.
The wife joined her husband in UAE but after a couple of months, differences surfaced in their matrimonial life. The wife then returned home where she delivered a baby girl.
The wife has alleged that the husband was upset about the child being a girl and didn’t visit the newborn for a year. The husband and his parents then began demanding additional dowry which her family obliged. But the harassment continued, following which the wife lodged a police complaint in the Srikakulam district against him and his parents.
Following the intervention of community elders in Srikakulam, both parties settled their dispute and the mother and child returned to UAE. However, the husband, who harboured a grudge against his wife and in-laws, allegedly began physically assaulting her and the same was shown to her parents over a video call.
The woman’s parents then reached UAE to work out an amicable solution in the presence of AP NRT society coordinators and some other prominent Telugu community members of UAE.
“The father didn’t see his child for a year just because she is a girl child. How is he going to take care of the baby in Sharjah while doing a job 114 km away in Abu Dhabi?” the woman’s parents questioned. However, they fell sick and with funds running out, they had to return home along with their daughter, with the child being allegedly held back by the husband.
AP state government arm for NRI affairs, APNRT and local MP K. Rammohan Naidu also have intervened in the case.
| 
