Section 4: Penalty for demanding dowry

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

¹[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 shall not be less than six months, but which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees:

Provided that the Court may, for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than six months.]

Footnotes in the official text

1.Subs. by Act 63 of 1984, s. 4, for section 4 (w.e.f. 2-10-1985).

Leading cases

Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014)Police must not arrest automatically for offences punishable with up to seven years; they must record why arrest is necessary under Section 41 CrPC, and Magistrates must scrutinise those reasons before authorising detention.

Questions on this section

2 questions in 9 of our papers cite Section 4. Try these from the free papers:

1. In Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014), the Supreme Court directed that police officers should not arrest an accused automatically but should first satisfy themselves of the necessity of arrest under the statutory parameters. Apart from cases under Section 498A IPC and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, these directions were made applicable to

Practise questions on Special Criminal Laws