From MOIA document at this link: http://www.498a.org/contents/publicity/MOIA_government.doc
- Any property or gift given to a woman before, at the time of marriage or later is her property
- May be gifted by anyone, even in-laws, friends
- She alone has the right to gift, will or dispose of her property as she desires
- No one else has a right on it
- Anyone who has a woman’s streedhan in her/his custody should return it to the actual owner within a stipulated time period
- If the trustee disposes of her property without her willing so the offender will be punished with imprisonment and fine
- If the woman dies without willing her property it goes to her sons/daughters and husband
A list should be made of the gifts given during or just after marriage. There has to be two lists: one for the man/another for the woman. The man’s list has to contain the gifts given to him by either party. The woman’s list has to contain the gifts given to her by either party. Spouses and witnesses should sign it. Both parties should retain a copy of the list.
i have a query
in many cases of 498a ,dva, list of gifts ,articles is not made during or after marriage and it is not signed by anyone.
after some time( few years) ,when the wife has left husbands home and started living with her parents ,she files cases under 498a, dva, where she mentions so many articles , gift items lying with husband ,without any proof ,these include also items gifted during marriage apart from sridhan ,.
in such cases ,how one should deal with the situation , as most of valuables are generally taken away by wife when she leaves husband’s house,
also makes random false allegations of few lakhs of cash , gold worth few lakhs as dowry given to husband without any proof ,documents