NRI duped in Punjab by ‘bride’ he never met

PHAGWARA: It was an NRI wedding that never got real.

A Greece-returned youth Parmjit who had met his 'dream girl' through the social media and arrived to wed her in style in a 20-car cavalcade, got a virtual slap on his face when he arrived at the marriage venue at Gobindpura village in Kapurthala district on Wednesday.

The bridegroom never dreamt that anything was amiss as the 'bride', Sandeep Kaur, was in constant touch with him, guiding him to the venue, a banquet hall on Nakodar Road, Phagwara. But, the minute the over 100-member baraat reached the place, she signed off.

The bridegroom who happily reached the palace at 11am in a flower-decked luxury car, and a row of baraatis in tow, couldn't believe his eyes when he found the banquet hall in Hadiabad area locked and nobody from the girl's family present. It took a few minutes for it to sink in that he had been set up. Devasted by this hoax, the youth's father fainted.

Pargan Singh, a numbardar of Gobindpura village, who was part of the baraat, said the groom had come in contact with the girl of Kotli village near Nakodar through the social media while he was in Greece. "The boy finalized the date and no one from his family was involved in negotiations for the matrimonial alliance or finalising of arrangements," he said.

"Celebrations were on at the groom's place for two days and nearly all his relatives had come to see him wed," said another relative.

Terming it "the worst humiliation of their life", some members of the marriage party spread word that they were ready to marry off the boy to any girl from the locality. A girl from a poor family was approached, but even her kin rejected the proposal as they were not sure about the groom's credentials. The baraat ultimately returned "empty-handed". By this time, the fraud had begun to add up for Parmjit, and he recollected how the girl had sought money from him on various pretexts. He went to Satnampura police station to lodge a complaint, but finally decided not to bother.  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/NRI-duped-in-Punjab-by-bride-he-never-met/articleshow/22502217.cms 

PIL questions immediate arrests in dowry harassment cases

JAIPUR: A division bench of the high court has asked state government to give its reply to a PIL filed by one Vinod Singhal who questioned immediate arrests in cases pertaining to Section 498A (dowry harassment) and Section 406 of IPC (criminal breach of trust) filed by aggrieved wives against husband and his relatives.
The petition alleges that 70% matrimonial disputes are being converted into criminal cases by misuse of the provisions of Sections 498A and 406 of IPC. It has been alleged that once such a false criminal case is filed against the husband and his relatives the police immediately arrest the accused resulting in vanishing of chances of reconciliation between the warring husband and wife.
The PIL raises a point that since the offences are non-bailable, some guidelines must be issued so as to see that no husband or his relatives are arrested on false complaints. The petitioner demands that instead of registering the FIR immediately, the police must first call the parties for conciliation and in case the dispute remains unresolved, then only action should be initiated against the guilty husband and his relatives.
It has also been highlighted in the petition that in the recent past the Supreme Court too had observed that the law made for protection of women is being misused and has asked the Law Commission of India to report as to whether the law can be made bailable. The division bench of Chief Justice Amitava Roy and Justice V S Siradhana directed that a copy of the PIL be supplied to the government advocate.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-09/jaipur/40468015_1_pil-questions-dowry-harassment-cases-division-bench