Question: A criminal complaint has been filed against me by my wife under Section 498A, 406 IPC. The police is yet to register a case and at present the police is trying to do mediation between me and my wife. During the mediation, my wife gave a detailed list containing items of Streedhan to the investigating officer. This list contains false items which were never given as Streedhan items at the time of our marriage. The police officer gave me a copy of this list of Streedhan items and took my acknowledgement for having received the same. He asked me to respond to this list within a period of two weeks. Now I am worried that my acknowledgement on the list of Streedhan items may perhaps be considered as my acknowledgement of having obtained those Streedhan items at the time of the marriage. Is my presumption in this regard correct? Can the police or the court say that I accepted those Streedhan items at the time of marriage because I acknowledged the aforesaid list of Streedhan items?
Answer: You have not provided the full details as to what are the contents of the said list of Streedhan items and what you wrote as acknowledgement. However, from what you have mentioned, it appears that you have merely acknowledged the receipt of the list of the Streedhan items. On the face of it, it cannot be construed as your acknowledgement for having accepted the Streedhan items mentioned in the said list (unless, of course, if you have specifically acknowledged that in the said list). In any case, since the police officer has already asked to file your response to the said list of Streedhan items, you should immediately file a reply clarifying your position as to whether or not those Streedhan items were received at the time of marriage; and, if so, then which specific Streedhan items were received and which were not received. Therefore, in your reply, it should be possible for you to deny the receipt of such Streedhan items, if that is the case.
