Indian laws have empowered married women to randomly file dowry harassment cases against husbands and their families. While one may argue that the anti-dowry law is very much needed, there are no consequences on women and their families misusing this law for their ulterior reasons.
Have you heard about the Pantheerankavu Dowry and Domestic Violence Case? If not, here is the entire story – how it started, what were the allegations, what happened to the husband and what is the status of the case as on date?
Kerala Man, Father, Die By Suicide After Wife Filed 498-A Case Against Husband & His Family
Case:
A couple gets married on May 5, 2024. Within seven days of the marriage, on May 12, 2024, the newly married bride from Kerala’s Ernakulam district publicly accuses her husband Rahul P Gopal and his family of assaulting and threatening to kill her for dowry.
The 26-year-old woman then lodges a complaint with the Pantheerankavu police against her husband, charging him for brutal torture because she failed to meet his dowry demands. The complaint also stated that the man was previously married and he had not disclosed about the same to the woman’s family.
The woman and her family had also accused the police of negligence towards them, after which Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Saju K Abraham had taken charge of the investigation.
Allegations by Wife
On May 14, two days after this complaint was filed, The News Minute portal reached the complainant’s home where she informed them:
He beat me on my face, head, and ear. After a point, I almost lost consciousness. He shouted at me and kept telling me that he would kill me. Then he tried to kill me by strangling me with a cable of a phone charger.
Luckily, I managed to get hold of the cable with my left hand and escaped narrowly. Then I tried to escape from the room but he dragged me to the bed and beat me using his belt. He pressed his fingernails into my lips and neck.
The PTI also carried another report quoting the woman’s version on dowry demand, which read as follows:
Right before marriage we had told the groom’s family what we could give and he (husband) had said he was okay with that. Now he claims that he deserves more dowry and also a car.
Husband’s Version
Following this media showdown by the wife, Rahul, who is an aeronautical engineer working in Germany, spoke with Mathrubhumi.com, and clarified that he did not ask for dowry from the woman’s family and also that he had disclosed about his earlier marriage with another woman. Rahul further agreed that he hit his wife due to irritation from calls and messages on her phone.
According to Rahul, he and his wife had a small fight that night, but later, they had resolved their issues and decided to move on.
Rahul claimed that he had raised objections to calls from the woman’s friends, and the fight escalated when this continued. He requested for checking the information on both SIM cards of the woman, including her phone and WhatsApp chats, which would clarify the matter at large.
He categorically denied charges of strangling her with a mobile phone charging cable and claimed the scar on her forehead resulted after she had slipped into the bathroom.
Adding further, Rahul stated that the situation only worsened when the woman’s family arrived for a ceremony at their house and threatened to take revenge by making his life miserable since he had raised his hand over her.
Rahul then emphatically said that dowry allegations were only added to strengthen a false case against him. He said that 75% of the wedding expenses were covered by him, and thus the question of any dowry demand could never be true.
As per the report, Rahul had then fled to Singapore, from where he was planning legal action against the complainant wife.
State Action
While the Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) had taken suo motu cognizance of the woman’s domestic violence complaint and ordered an investigation, the Kozhikode City Police Commissioner was instructed to submit their report within 15 days.
Besides Rahul, his family (including his mother, sister), and a friend, the SHO (Station House Officer) was also booked for not acting swiftly in the matter.
Later, when it was learnt that Rahul had moved from Singapore to Germany, the Indian police authorities issued lookout notices at all airports and even sought Interpol’s assistance to apprehend him. Following this, Interpol issued a blue corner notice against him.
While the local authorities froze his bank accounts in Kerala after he fled, the police also started efforts to freeze his bank accounts which he held in Germany.
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Twist in Tale, Allegations Withdrawn
While efforts were on to bring Rahul back from Germany to India, the case took a U-turn on June 10, 2024, when the woman came up with an 18-minute video on her YouTube Channel, claiming that her statements against Rahul were “false” and given “following the pressure from her parents”.
Not just this, but the woman also expressed her interest to reunite and live with her husband.
In the video, she even alleged that it was her parents who cooked up the “fake stories” about torture in the name of dowry. She even concurred that the injuries on her body were the result of an “accidental fall” in the bathroom and not due to any assault by her husband.
Her statement added:
I regret over the revelation of false information to the media and the police. I did not want to do it. I was in a confused and shocked state after my parents’ brainwashing attempts.
The woman then went on to add, that Rahul had indeed revealed details of his first marriage and only after she (complainant) had agreed, he proceeded with this marriage with her. She once again reiterated that all her statements against him were false.
In fact, the woman put out a second video assuring everyone that she was safe and her statement was not under any pressure.
She went on to now accuse her own family of giving her death threats and said:
Because of all the pressure I was facing, I felt like staying away from everyone for a while. I know it’s already too late. But I felt that I had to reveal the truth at least at this stage.
That’s why I decided to stay away and make this video. My situation at home would not have allowed me to do this.
The woman has also given an affidavit to the Kerala High Court in this regard, clearing Rahul from all charges.
Statement by Complainant’s Family
Following a revised statement by their daughter, complainant’s father Haridas shared his side with the media. He quoted:
Rahul’s family might have entrapped our daughter. Our earlier statements were based on what she told us. She mentioned the domestic violence and showed us bruises on her body. We did not create those injuries or force her to lie.
Statement by Complainant’s Lawyer
Speaking with media, the lawyer representing the complainant wife said:
It was only a petty dispute between the woman and her husband, and they have resolved it. She has submitted an affidavit to close the complaint, and I am moving forward with it.
Statement Changed Under Pressure?
As per a report by The Hindu, the woman changed her statement at a time when the Central Bureau of Investigation exchanged the case details with the Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice against Rahul to bring him back from Germany to India.
After this latest video clearing Rahul of all the charges, the police accessed the reliability of the woman’s statement, as she had earlier given her statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before a magistrate.
However, the police confirmed that no evidence had been received so far to consider the woman’s revised statement had been made under any external threat or persuasion.
Rahul’s mother, sister, friend and suspended SHO were all granted bail from the Kerala High Court.
DO WATCH: Tamil Actor Karthik Kumar Files Rs 1 Crore Defamation Case Against Ex-Wife Suchitra
Voice For Men India Take:
- Matrimonial disputes are very tricky and one may never really know what happens within four corners of the wall between a couple
- Domestic Violence laws are always designed in such a way, that a wife’s statement gets weightage, and at the outset, a husband is always presumed to be guilty, until the end of his trial
- Role of mainstream and digital media has always played havoc in such cases, where even before any court verdict, multiple slanderous articles are penned against the husband
- Having said so, one cannot blame the media and society entirely, because it is human mindset to sympathise when a woman says she was thrashed and beaten
- But then, should cases like these, not serve as an eye opener for everyone, to question the other side, before pronouncing their judgment against someone?
- Voice For Men India mostly refrains from taking sides in all such matters, unless there is a final court order detailing the findings of a case
- Can we as a responsible society, also not hold on to our horses, instead of running abusive campaigns against one gender, only because social media empowers us to do so?
- Raising your voice against injustice to women should be welcomed, but how fair is it, to convict a man and his family online, only by reading one side of the version?
- Do give this a thought the next time you type in anger tarnishing someone’s image, without listening to his side of the story
Note: While we have not revealed the husband’s face as done by almost all portals, we have shared his name, since the matter is already in public domain.
DO WATCH:
Cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s Brother Zoraver Singh’s Domestic Violence Case | Akanksha Sharma Big Boss
LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW:
#KERALA | Pantheerankavu Dowry & Domestic Violence Case | Full Story Till Date
"My Family Brainwashed Me To Cook Up False Cases Against Husband"
CASE:
▪️Within 7-days of marriage, wife publicly accused husband of Dowry Harassment, Attempt to Murder
▪️After false allegations… pic.twitter.com/mi5IFMGVIL
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