The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea
challenging certain provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act and alleging misuse
of women-centric laws.
"You can go and raise all these grounds in
Parliament," a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran told the
counsel appearing for the petitioner.
The petitioner's counsel said they were seeking to
challenge certain provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, including
sections 2 and 3.
While section 2 of the Act deals with definition of
dowry, section 3 pertains to penalty for giving or taking dowry.
The counsel said the petitioner was concerned about
these laws which adversely impacts men.
The public interest litigation (PIL) names laws like
the Dowry Prohibition Act, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act,
and the provision on cruelty to women in the erstwhile Indian Penal Code to
question their validity.
The plea filed by petitioner Rupshi Singh
highlighted the alleged malice in law, the unreasonableness contained in the
impugned provisions and the lack of semblance of law in the provisions.
The petitioner was seeking protection of men against
the atrocities committed by women filing false complaints, abusing the very
laws that were meant to protect them from harm.
The PIL submitted that the Dowry Prohibition Act was
discriminatory on the grounds of religion and further assailed the provisions
of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 as being
women-centric and discriminatory against men.