Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
Section 4: Penalty for demanding dowry
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.]
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 15 October 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 4
-
Muskan v. Ishaan Khan (Sataniya) and Others
Whether the High Court was right in quashing the criminal proceedings against the private respondents primarily on the ground that the earlier complaints did not mention the two specific incidents dated 22.07.2021 and…
-
Ghanshyam Soni v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) & Anr.
Issue arose whether the cognizance on the complaint u/ss.498A rw s.34 IPC was taken beyond the limitation period as mandated u/s.468 CrPC; and whether the prima facie case u/ss.498A rw s.34 IPC was made out against the…
-
Rajesh Chaddha v. State of Uttar Pradesh
Whether the High Court while exercising its revisionary jurisdiction erred in upholding the conviction of the appellant under Section 498A, Penal Code, 1860 and Section 4, Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
-
Shakuntla Devi v. The State of Uttar Pradesh
Issue arose as to the correctness of the order passed by the High Court wherein the appellant’s conviction u/ss.304B and 498A IPC and ss.3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 was converted into that u/s.306 IPC.
-
Muppidi Lakshmi Narayana Reddy & Ors. v. The State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr.
Issue arose as regards the correctness of the order passed by the High Court dismissing the petition of the appellants u/s.482 CrPC seeking quashing of the proceedings against them.
-
Ramanuj Kumar v. Priyanka
Whether on facts, the marriage between the parties has irretrievably broken down and ought to be dissolved on that ground in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.
-
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence v. Raj Kumar Arora & Ors.
Issue arose whether an offence u/s.8(c) of the NDPS Act could be said to have been made out when an accused “deals with” psychotropic substances mentioned in the Schedule to the NDPS Act but not figuring in Schedule I…
-
Sushila & Ors. v. State of U.P. & Ors.
Whether High Court correctly disposed of the prayer for quashing of the summoning order issued by the Trial Court in Complaint Case u/ss.498A, 323, 504, 506 of the Penal Code, 1860 and s.4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act,…
-
Shabeen Ahmad v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
Matter pertains to the correctness of the order passed by the High Court granting bail to in-laws of the deceased wife, charged for causing dowry death of the deceased.
-
Suman Mishra & Ors. v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
Whether the High Court erred in finding that there were specific allegations in the FIR and Chargesheet even after dropping the charge of Section 376, IPC in order to maintain the criminal proceedings against the…
-
Geddam Jhansi & Anr. v. The State of Telangana & Ors.
Whether the criminal proceedings against the appellant(s) under Sections 498A, 506, Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 3 and 4, Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 ought to be…
-
Ashutosh Pathak v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
The grievance of the petitioner in the instant case is two-fold. Firstly, the in-part acceptance of his application u/s.311 of the CrPC and consequent non-summoning of witness-K. Secondly, closure of the opportunity to…
-
Smt. N. Usha Rani and Anr. v. Moodudula Srinivas
Whether a woman is entitled to claim maintenance under Section 125 CrPC from her second husband while her first marriage is allegedly legally subsisting.
-
M. Venkateswaran v. The State rep. by the Inspector of Police
Matter pertains to the modification of sentence imposed for offence u/s.498A IPC and s.4 of the DP Act and payment of compensation to the wife-de facto complainant.
-
Ram Pyarey v. The State of Uttar Pradesh
Correctness of the order of conviction against the brother-in-law for the offences punishable u/ss.306, 498-A IPC and s.4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, in the absence of any cogent evidence.
-
Rinku Baheti v. Sandesh Sharda
Issue arose whether the petitioner-wife is entitled to the transfer of the divorce petition; and whether this Court, upon the application filed by the respondent-husband, can exercise its powers u/Art. 142(1) of the…
-
Dara Lakshmi Narayana & Others v. State of Telangana & Another
In the facts and circumstances of the case and after examining the FIR, whether the High Court was correct in refusing to quash the ongoing criminal proceedings against the appellants under Section 498A of the IPC and…
-
Shoor Singh & Anr. v. State of Uttarakhand
High Court, if justified in acquitting the parents-in-laws and the husband of the victim-daughter-in-law of the offences punishable u/ss.304-B and 498-A IPC.
-
Somprabha Rana & Ors. v. The State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.
High Court, if justified in disturbing the custody of the child, aged one year and five months at the time of passing the order, by handing over the custody of the child to her father and paternal side relatives from…
-
Sudeep Chatterjee v. State of Bihar & Anr.
Whether the High Court erred by putting onerous conditions on accused-appellant while granting provisional pre-arrest bail.
-
Kiran Jyot Maini v. Anish Pramod Patel
Long-standing separation between the parties, multiple prolonged litigations pending adjudication, several failed attempts at reconciliation. Issue was as regards interim maintenance however, in view of irretrievable…
-
Trisha Singh v. Anurag Kumar
Parties arrived at an amicable settlement for dissolution of marriage by mutual consent. However, the wife resiled from the settlement agreement. Exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to…
-
Achin Gupta v. State of Haryana & Anr.
The appellant herein was chargesheeted u/ss.323, 406, 498A and 506 of IPC. The appellant filed a quashing petition for the purpose of getting the criminal proceedings quashed. The High Court by its impugned order,…
-
Dolly Rani v. Manish Kumar Chanchal
When the marriage ceremony had not been performed in accordance with section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, whether registration of such a marriage under section 8 of the 1955 Act would confer any legitimacy to it.
-
Mamidi Anil Kumar Reddy v. The State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr.
The High Court, if justified in refusing to quash the docket order which re-initiated criminal proceedings against the appellants for offences u/s. 420, 498A, 506 IPC and u/s. 3, 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
-
Nara Chandrababu Naidu v. The State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr.
Interpretation of s.17A, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 incorporated by the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 26 of 2018 and its applicability to the facts of the present case.
-
Paranagouda and Another v. The State of
Whether the courts below were justified in convicting and sentencing the accused for the offences punishable u/ss. 498A, 304B read with s. 34 IPC and ss. 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act; whether the conviction of the…
-
Smt. Roopa Soni v. Kamalnarayan Soni
Whether the trial Court and High Court were justified in adopting a hyper-technical and pedantic approach in declining the decree of divorce, when both the parties had made serious allegations against each other and…
-
Abhishek v. State of Madhya Pradesh
The question pertains to quashing of the FIR and the Criminal Case pending before the magistrate against the appellants, mother-in-law and two brother-in-laws u/s. 498A IPC and ss. 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act,…
- Md. Asfak Alam v. The State of Jharkhand & Anr.
- Priyanka Mishra & Ors. v. The State of Madhya
- Bimla Tiwari v. State of Bihar & Ors .
- Rajaram v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors
- Bhuri Bai v. The State of Madhya Pradesh
- Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr.
- Ms. P Xxx v. State of Uttarakhand & Anr
- Parvati Devi v. The State of Bihar Now State of Jharkhand & Ors.
- Mirza Iqbal @ Golu & Anr. v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
- Brijesh Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others
- Nathu Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors.
- Sonu v. Sonu Yadav and Another
- Shivaji Chintappa Patil v. State of Maharashtra
- Dr Naresh Kumar Mangla v. Smt. Anita Agarwal & Ors. Etc.
- Sandeep Kumar and Others v. State of Uttarakhand and Another
- Parvez Noordin Lokhandwalla v. State of Maharashtra & Anr.
- Union of India v. Ashok Kumar Sharma and Others
- Preet Pal Singh v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
- Arun Singh & Others v. State of U.P. Through Its Secretary & Another
- Ahmad Ali Quraishi and Anr. v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
- Dr Nallapareddy Sridhar Reddy v. The State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors
- Puneet Dalmia v. Central Bureau of Investigation, Hyderabad
- Gurjit Singh v. State of Punjab
- Vishnu Kumar Tiwari v. State of Uttar Pradesh Through Secretary Home, Civil Secretariat Lucknow and Another
- Rashmi Chopra v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
- Vijay Mohan Singh v. State of Karnataka
- Sunil Kumar Gupta and Others v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others
- Aarish Asgar Qureshi v. Fareed Ahmed Qureshi & Anr.
- State of Madhya Pradesh v. Vikram Das
- Monu v. State of U.P. & Anr.
- Omveer Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
- Dr. Jagdish Prasad & Ors. v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
- Sangeeta Agrawal & Ors. v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
- Siddaling v. The State, Through Kalagi Police Station
- Chandra Bhawan Singh v. The State of Uttar Pradesh
- Sri Rameshwar Yadav & Ors. v. The State of Bihar & Anr.
- Dinesh Kumar Kalidas Patel v. The State of Gujarat
- Vineet Kumar & Ors. v. State of U.P. & Anr.
- Ajay Kumar Ghoshal Etc. v. State of Blhar & Anr.
- Ajay Singh and Anr. and Etc. v. State of Chhattisgarh and Anr.
- Mohd. Hashim v. State of UP & Ors.
- Satish Shetty v. State of Karnataka
- State of Karnataka v. Dattaraj & Others
- Ram Saran Varshney and Others v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Another
- Bobbili Ramakrishna Raju Yadav & Ors v. State of Andhra Pradesh Rep. by Its Public Prosecutor High Court of A.P. Hyderabad, A.P. & Anr.
- Rajiv Singh v. State of Bihar & Another
- Satyapal Singh v. State of M.P. and Ors.
- Bhanuben and Anr. v. State of Gujarat
- V. K. Mishra&Anr. v. State of Utiarakhand &Anr.
- Basisth Narayan Yadav v. Kailash Rai and Ors.
- M.Narayan v. State of Karnataka
- Bhim Singh and Anr. v. State of Utiarakhand
- Vivek Rai & Anr. v. High Court of Jharkhand Through Registrar General & Ors.
- Ratnesh Kumar Pandey v. State of Uttar Pradesh