False dowry case: woman told to pay damages:Ludhiana, August 6 The Additional Civil Judge, Jagraon, has directed

a Bathinda-based woman to pay Rs 3 lakh as damages to her husband and his relatives for lodging a false dowry harassment case against them. Ms Jatinder Kaur Walia, Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), has ordered Harpreet Kaur of Gumti Kalan village to pay the damages with interest to her husband and relatives for causing mental harassment, malicious prosecution and financial loss and loss to reputation by lodging a false FIR, on the charges of dowry demand and harassment. The court yesterday initiated proceedings for enforcing the decree passed by it and ordered the woman to appear before the court on October 23 this year. The case was filed by Kuldeep Singh (husband of Harpreet Kaur), Gurmeet Kaur (mother-inlaw), Ujagar Singh (father-in-law), Amandeep Singh and Jaswinder Singh(brothers-in-law), all belonging to Chet Singh Nagar of Ludhiana. They had filed a suite for the recovery of Rs 5 lakh on account of damages. It was submitted by Kuldeep Singh that he got married to Harpreet Kaur in December 1996. After sometime her wife allegedly started compelling him to live at her parental house but he refused. She left her matrimonial home in December 1997. Following an application by her wife, he was called by the DSP, Jagraon. In the presence of the panchayat they demanded Rs 15 lakh to settle the dispute. Ultimately, the matter was compromised for Rs 3 lakh. In the presence of witnesses, the amount was paid in July 1997. Despite settlement, she again moved an application with the police and all family members were booked under Sections 406, 498-A, 506 of the IPC. But after trial they were acquitted by the Court of Mr H.S. Grewal, JMIC, Jagraon, in January 2002. It was also submitted and proved on record that with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court an inquiry was conducted by the then Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, Mr C.D. Gupta. The inquiry report gave clear finding that Rs 3 lakh was paid for a compromise. The petitioners claimed that thereafter she filed petition under Section 125, CrPC, claiming maintenance from her husband which was later withdrawn by her. During all these cases, the petitioner spent lakhs on defending litigation and pursuing their cases. Their reputation was also lowered with their arrest in a dowry case.