The Supreme Court of India has delivered a pivotal judgment in a case concerning family disputes over dowry, reaffirming that a woman's "Stridhan" is exclusively her property. The ruling clarified that a father cannot seek the return of his daughter's dowry from her in-laws without her explicit consent. This significant decision was made by a bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol, who addressed the issues of criminal breach of trust in a case brought by Padala Veerbhadra Rao from Telangana.
Rao had lodged a complaint against his daughter’s former in-laws, accusing them of not returning the dowry given at the time of her marriage in 1999. This complaint arose despite the fact that his daughter had divorced in 2015 and remarried in 2018. The court viewed Rao's legal action as an abuse of the criminal justice system, noting that the system is designed to deliver justice, not to be used for personal grievances.
The bench emphasized the legal principle that a woman, regardless of her marital status, has exclusive rights over her Stridhan. The court concluded that since Rao's daughter was alive, well, and fully capable of making her own decisions, her father had no rightful claim over the dowry items.
In January 2021, Rao had filed an FIR under Section 406 of the IPC for criminal breach of trust and invoked the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. Although the Telangana High Court initially found the allegations worth considering in December 2022, the Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the proceedings against the former in-laws. The Court noted that the FIR lacked merit, especially given the considerable time that had passed since the divorce and remarriage of Rao's daughter.
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