,,,f; , jh!  } iz r ,;~  ~" \ ~ " ,, ~ \ - '   bill no 52 of 1184, the dowry prohibition (amendment) bill, 1984a -  1" 't~~,-,  ' " bill to amend the dowry prohibition act, 1961 bb it enacted by parliament, in the thirty-fifth year ,of the republic of india as follows:-1 (1) this act may be called the dowry prohibition (amendment} act, 1984 short title and commencement  ',5 (2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the omcial gazette, appoint - 28 of 1961 2 in section 2 of the dowry prohibition ,act, 1961 (bell-einafter refer~ l'ed to as the pr,incipal act) ,  amend ment of section 2 (a) for the words "as consideration for the marriage of the said 10 parties, but does not include", the words ";'in connection with the marriag~ of the said parties, but does not include" shall be substituted; (b) explanation i shall be omitted 3 section 3 of the principal act shall be renumbered as sub-s<;!ction 15 (1) of that section and,-- - ,amendment of section 3  (a) in sub-section {1) as so renumbered, tor the words "with imprisonment w:~ich m~y extend to six months, or' with  fine which may extend to f\ve thousand rupees, or with both", the following shall be substituted, namely:-, "with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months, but which may extend to two years, and with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or the amount 5 of the value of such dowry, whichever is more:  " provided that the coutt may, for adequate and special-, reasons to be recorded in the judgme,nt, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than six mtjnths"; '  (b) after sub-section (1) as so renumbered, the following sub 10 section shall be inserted, namely: - "(2) nothing in sub-section (1) shall apply to, or in relation to- ' (a) presents which are given at th~ time,of a marriage to the bride (without any demand having been ~de in 15 that behalf)': i provided that' such presents' are enteroo in a list maintained in accordance' with the rules made under this hct; , (b) presents which are given at the time of a marriage to the brid~groom (without any demand having been made 20 in that behalf):  provided that such presents are entered in a list maintained in accordance with the rules made under this act: provided further that where such presents are" made by or on behalf of the bride or any person related to the bride, 25 such presents are of a customary nature and the value ther~-of is not excessive having regard to the financial status of the person by whom or on whose behalf, such presents are given  • penalty for' demandinc dowry 4 for section 4 of the principal act, the following section shall be ~o subrtituted, namely:--  ' "4 if any person demands, directly or indirectly, from the parents or other relatives or guardian of a bride or bridegroom as the case may be, any dowry" he shall be punishable, with imprisonment for a term which shallnot be less that} six months, but w"hlch may extend 35 to two years and with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees: provided that the court may, for adequate and rpeeinl reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a t'l!tjnof less than six months",  5 i~ section 6 of the prin~ipal act,-amendment of eectlon 6 (a) in sub-s~tion (1) for the wor~~ "one year", wherever they-!>c~ur, t~ word:; cltb~~' months" !';halj be substituted;  (b) for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-5 , "(2) if any person fails to transfer any property as required by sub-section (1) within the time limit specified therefor, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than sit: months, but which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to ten'thousand rupees or with both"; (c) after sub-sect'ion (3), t!he folllbwing sub-section shall ~ inserted, namely:-!  10 15 "(3a) where a person convicted under sub-section (2) for failure to transfer any property as required by sub-sec1;ion (1) , has not, before his conviction under that sub-section,  transferred such property to the woman entitled thereto or, as the case may be, her beirs, the court shal1, ill addition to awarding punishment under that sub-secttion, direct, by order in 20 writi~, that such person shall transfer the property 'to such woman or, as the case may be, her heirs within such period as may be specified in the order, and if such person fails to comply with the direction within the period so specified, an , amount equal to the value of the property may be recovered from him! as if it were a fine imposed by such court and paid to such woman or, as the case m~y be, her heirs!'   6 for section 7 of the principal act, the' following section shall be  subati-25 substituted, namely: - '  tution of smion '1 '7 (1) notwithstanding anything coqtained in the code of criminal procedure, 1973,-2 of 1974 cognizance of o1fences, - (a) no court inferior to that of a metropoutan magistrate or  a judicial magistrate of the first class shall try any offence·un - this act; (b) no court -shall take cognizance of an offence w?-~er this act 'except upon- (i) its own knowle,dge or a police report orthe facts which constitute such offence, or 35 (ii) a complaint by the person aggrieved by the offence or a -parent or other relative of such person" or b, any recognized welfare institution or orgarrisation; (c) it shall be lawful' for a metropolitan magistrate or a judicial magistrate of the first class to pass any sentence autho- rised by -this act on any pe!"son convicted of any, offence under this act ~ explanation-for the purposes of this  sub-section, "recognized welfare institution or organisation" means a social welfare institution or organisation recognized in this behalf by the central or state government (2) nothing in chapter' xxxvi of the code i>f criminal ptocedure, 1973, shall apply to,  any offence punishable under this act'  ' 7 for section 8 of the principal act, the following section shall be substituted, namely: -'\ ~ubstitu­tion of section 8 ~ , "8 (1) the code of criminal procedure, 1973 shtll apply to 5  offences under this act as if they were cognizable offences-(a) for the purposes of investigation of such offences; 8l?-d (b) for the purposes of matters other than~ (i) matters referred to in section 42 of that code; and  (ii) the arrest of a person without a warrant or without 10 an order of a magistrate ofte)lccs to be cognizablefor certain purposes and to be bailable &nd noncompound-~ble (2) every offence under this act shall be bailable and noncompoundable" at"end· 1j(~nt of ,ec:iol ij 8 in seepon 9 of the principal act, sub-section (2) shall be renumbered as sub-section (3) thereof, and,-15 (4), before sub-section (3) as so renumbered, the following sub-section shal1 be inserted, namely:-/i (2) in partic~lar, and without prejudice to the gener8'lity  of the foregoing power, such rules may proide for-(a) the form and manner in which, and the persons by whom, any list of presents referred to in sub-sectipn (2) of 20 section :3 shall be maintained and all other matters connected therewith; and (b) the better co-ordination of policy and action with respect to the aoministration of this act"; !l5 (b) in sub-section (3) as so renumbered, for the words "two successive sessions and if before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately 'following", the words "two ?f more successive sessions, and if, before the, expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions afore-,said" shall be substituted go statement of objects and reasons 'l'he evil of dowry system has been a maner' of serious concern to every 'one in view of its evel'l4ncreasing and disturbing proj?ortions the legislation on the subject enacted by parliament, ie, the dowry prohibition act, 1961 and the far-reaching amendments which have 'been made to the act by a number of states during the seventies have not succeeded in' containing the evil as pointed out by the committee ,on the stabus of women in india, the educated youth is grossly insensitive to the evil of dowry and unashamedly contributes to its per-,petuation governm~nl has been making various efforts to deal with the problem in addition to issuing instructions to the state governments and union territory administrations with regard to the making of thorough and compulsory investigations into cases of dowry deaths and stepping up anti-dowry' publicity, government referred the' whole matter for consideration by a: joint commit'tee of both the houses of parliament the committee went into the whole matter in great depth and its proceedings have, helped in no small measure in focussing 'the attention of the public and rousing the consciousness of the public against this evil 2 the following observations made by late pandit jawaharlal nehru which have been quoted by the commit'tee indicate the role ,which legislation can play in dealing with the evil:-;'~gis1ation cannot by tself normally solve deep-rooted social problems one has to approach them in other ways too, but legislation is necessary and essential, so that it may give that push and have that educative factor as well as the legal sanctions behind it which helppuhlic opinion to be given a certain shape": the recommendations made by the joint committee of the houses to examiue the question of working of the! dowry prohibition act, 1~61 have been considered keeping in view these observations and after ,taking· into consideration the comments received on the report from the ~tate governme1jts, union territory administrations and the different administrative ministries of the union concerned with the matter one, of the impol'tant r~mmendations of the committee for dealing with cruelty to a married woman' by the husband or the relatives of the husband on the ground of non-receipt of dowry or insufflcient dowry has· already been given effect to by the criminal law (second amendmellt) act, 1983 this act amended, inter alia, the indian penal code to include therein fl' ~visjon fot pw:qshment for cruelty to married women and was aimed at dealing directly with' the problem of dowry suicides' and dowry deaths 3, the j<lint c~mmittee has il"€commended that 'the definition of "dowry" contained in section 2 of the 1961-act should be modified by omitting the expression "as consideration for the marriage" used therein on the ground that it is well nigh impossible to prove that anythin'g given were a consideration for the marriage for the obvious and simple reason that the giver, ie, the parents who are usually the victims would be reluctant and unwilling to set the law in motion the omission of , ,   t, "ir- "', , the words "i;\s consideration for the marriage" would make the definition not only wide bul also unworkable, for, if these ,words are omitted, anything given, whether before or after or at the time of marriage by anyone, may arnotint to dowry the supreme court has also placed a liberal construction o1'lthe word "dowry" as used' in section 4 of the dowry prohibition act, 1961, relating to demanding dowry in the circumstances, it is proposed to substitute the words "in connection with the ma1tiage" for the words "as consiaeration for the marriage'll instead of omitting ihose words ' 4' section 3' of the dowry prohibition act relating to file offences of giving or taking of dowry is being 'amencied in accordarice with the recommendatiuns of the joint committee to make ,the 'punishment far the offence more st!'ingent au presents given at the time of marriage to the bride and certain types of presents given at the time of marriage to the bridegroom are proposea to be excluded from the purview of the offences under the section however, the recommendations of the committee for exempting the giver of dowry from punishment is not· being given effect to as such exemption may only prove to be counter-productiye 5 section 4 of the dowry prohibhian act relating to penalty for demanding dowry is proposed to be amended to make the punishment thereun'ier more stringent on the lines recommended by the joint com", mittee  6 section 6 or the act is being amended in a~card~nce with the recommendation of -the joint commi~tee, to reduce the time limit within which dowry received in connection with the marriage of a woman by any other person should be restored to the woman from, one year to three months likewh:e, the ,punishment for failure to restore such dowry within the said timeljmit is behlg ~de more stringent'on the lines recommended by the committee under a special provision which is being included in section 6 where a person is convicted for failure to restore the dowry to' the woman concerned within the period ,specifted in the section, the court may, in addition to a)varding runi&'hment, issue a direction requiring him to restore the property to the woman within the period specified in the direction in case of non-compliance with the direction, ~he value at the property would be recoverable from such person as if it were a fine and the amount so recovered'may be paid to the woman concerne!i or, as the case may be, her heirs 7 sections 7 and 8 of the dowry pro1}ibition act are proposed to be amended to give effect to the recommendations of the committee as to cognizance of offence!" under the act and making offences under the act cognizable --8 the bill seeks to achieve the above objects new deuu; the 9th may, 1984 jagannath kaushal  clause 8 of the bill seeks to amend section 9 of 'the dowry prohibition act, 1961 relating· to the power of the central govemme'ht to make rules for the purpose of specifying in particular certain matters in respect of which rules may be made under the section these relate to the form and manner in which, and the person by whom, any li~t of presents referred to in suh-section (2) of section 3 shall be maintained and all  other matters connect~d therewith and the better co-ordination of policy and action with respect to the administration of the act these are matters of detail· the delegation of legislative power involved is the~ fore, of a normal character i ( i bill "' to amend the dowry prohibition act, 1961  \  ",' ,  i  (shri jclgclnnclth kaushal, minist~r oflaw, justice 4?"d co'i'np4ny ai4irs) 