CAW CELL PROCESS AFTER FILING OF COMPLAINT U/S 498A IPC

Whenever the complaint u/s 498A is made by a genuinely aggrieved wife, or by a wife who is making a false complaint to extract money or to torture her in-laws and husband there is a procedure which is followed by the police at the CAW Cell. Such procedure is generally based on the assumption that this is a family dispute between a husband and a wife.

The first step in the CAW cell process is of the counselling of the wife on the day when she visits the CAW cell with her complaint. Then the officers appointed at the Cell tells her about her rights and limitations, and the rights and limitations of the husband as well, and the procedure that will be followed during the whole process. Then the wife handovers her complaint in writing to the department. Thereafter, the complaint is referred to the legal cell of the CAW cell. The legal cell goes through the complaint made by the wife and makes its recommendations. However, if no offence is made out against one or more persons mentioned in the complaint, then those persons will either not be charge sheeted by the police at the women’s police station / mahila thana, or they will be acquitted by the judge.

After the legal cell makes the recommendations in the complaint, the complaint is forwarded again to the DCP or who is in-charge of the CAW cell. At this stage, an enquiry officer is appointed by the department, and this appointment comes directly from senior-most level in the CAW cell. The enquiry/investigation officer is usually a woman. Thereafter, immediately after the appointment of the Investigation officer, such appointed officer personally meets the wife. She tells them again the whole process, and they tell her how they wish to proceed.

The main court decisions which act as the basis for the work of CAW cells throughout the country are Joginder Kumar vs. State of UP (Crl. WP 9 of 1994) (Supreme Court), D.K. Basu (DK Bose –MU) vs. State of West Bengal (Supreme Court), Court on its Own Motion vs. CBI (Crl. Misc. 3875/2003) (Delhi High Court), Chander Bhan and Anr. vs. State (Bail application 1627/2008) (Delhi High Court, Kailash Gambhir J.), and most recently Arnesh Kumar vs. State of Bihar. All these decisions prompted DGPs of various states to issue guidelines. Delhi was one of the first state to do so.

The enquiry officer writes a summons which is sent to the husband and ask him to come to the concerned CAW Cell and to join the investigation as early as possible. This is the first time when the husband learns that he is an accused in a 498a case. If the husband ignores these summons then he may have problems in getting anticipatory bail.

On the day of the first meeting with the investigation/enquiry officer, the husband and wife are made to sit together and they tell their issues respectively. They make allegations and counter-allegations. At the end of the session, the investigation/enquiry officer asks the wife what she wants now and if the wife says she wants conciliation and wanted to live together again after counselling by a counsellor or if she may say that she wants mediation to decide the terms and conditions of mutual consent divorce, including full and final monetary settlement. The investigation/enquiry officer then asks the husband what he wants and tells him that if he refuses to listen to the wife then he has to face the trial in the court. Then the enquiry /investigation officer makes notes in her file and makes both the parties to sign their attendance and they are told to come back after a week or so as convenient to both the parties as well as the officer.

When they come back on the appointed day, the counsellor meets wife and husband. The wife again narrates her version and makes her demands, She is also asked whether she wants conciliation or not. This is done in spite of the fact that it was the wife who had asked for the conciliation proceedings. Then the husband is called and he narrates his version and makes his statement about whether he wants conciliation or not. Then both the spouses are called together and they are told the result of the conciliation. Sometimes another date is also given, sometimes they are advised to seek mutual consent divorce. If another date is given then they come again for as many times as the counsellor considers necessary and fruitful.

If another date is not given then the counsellor takes in writing from one or both spouses that they do not want further attempts at conciliation. Then they go to then investigation/ enquiry officer, who calls them on another day after one week, or a longer time if one of the parties is from another town. The next time they come, they are asked one by one whether they want mediation. If the wife says yes then the husband has to agree, or he “may have difficulty in getting anticipatory bail” (according to the EO). Then the enquiry officer gives the list of stridhan items which are claimed by the wife to be with the husband. Then the husband comes back after a few days with the admit list, which is the list of items that he admits is with him.

After this list is submitted, they are directed to go to the mediation cell. On this day, the mediator, who is a high court lawyer, with both husband and wife first. Then with the wife alone, in which she asks her how much she wants and how much she is willing to go down. Then she talks to the husband alone and asks him about his offer and paying capacity. Finally, she talks to husband and wife both, and in case if they find out they have been able to reach an agreed amount. She gives a next date at the end of the session, which is a session for full and final settlement, just like the first session and at the end, if there is an agreement, then a MoU is prepared. Otherwise, husband and wife are told to go home.

That 498a is a cognizable crime, and an FIR is mandatory upon filing of a complaint in such an offence. At this stage, the investigation/enquiry officer sends a written notice to both husband and wife to appear before her. On the appointed day, they appear before her, and she listens to their narrations. Then she asks them again if they want conciliation or if the husband is willing to accept the wife’s demand or the wife is willing to accept her husband’s offer. If there is no agreement, then she asks the wife to bring copies of receipts of marriage expenditure, photos of the wedding, and a copy of the wedding invitation. Then they both come after a week with the required documents and they are asked again the same questions as last time. If their answer is no, then the enquiry officer forwards the file to her immediate senior, who forwards it to the DCP or JCP in-charge, who forwards it to the police station near the wife’s home (or near the main CAW cell of the city, if the complaint was filed at that cell by the wife) for conversion of the complaint into an FIR.