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In adherence to the rules and regulations of Bar Council of India, this website has been designed only for the purposes of circulation of information and not for the purpose of advertising.
Your use of SoOLEGAL service is completely at your own risk. Readers and Subscribers should seek proper advice from an expert before acting on the information mentioned herein. The content on this website is general information and none of the information contained on the website is in the nature of a legal opinion or otherwise amounts to any legal advice. User is requested to use his or her judgment and exchange of any such information shall be solely at the user’s risk.
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SoOLEGAL Transaction Services Agreement :
By registering yourself with SoOLEGAL, it is understood and agreed by you that the Terms and Conditions under the Transaction Services Terms shall be binding on you at all times during the period of registration and notwithstanding cessation of your registration with SoOLEGAL certain Terms and Conditions shall survive.
"Your Transaction" means any Transaction of Documents/ Advices(s), advice and/ or solution in the form of any written communication to your Client made by you arising out of any advice/ solution sought from you through the SoOLEGAL Site.
Transacting on SoOLEGAL Service Terms:
The SoOLEGAL Payment System Service ("Transacting on SoOLEGAL") is a Service that allows you to list Documents/ Advices which comprise of advice/ solution in the form of written communication to your Client who seeks your advice/ solution via SoOLEGAL Site and such Documents/ Advices being for Transaction directly via the SoOLEGAL Site. SoOLEGAL Payment Service is operated by Sun Integrated Technologies and Applications . TheSoOLEGAL Payment System Service Terms are part of the Terms & Conditions of SoOLEGAL Services Transaction Terms and Conditionsbut unless specifically provided otherwise, concern and apply only to your participation in Transacting on SoOLEGAL. BY REGISTERING FOR OR USING SoOLEGAL PAYMENT SYSTEM , YOU (ON BEHALF OF YOURSELF OR THE FIRM YOU REPRESENT) AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TRANSACTIONS TRANSACTION TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
Unless otherwise defined in this Documents/ Advice or Terms & Conditions which being the guiding Documents/ Advice to this Documents/ Advice, all capitalized terms have the meanings given them in the Transactions Transaction Terms and Conditions.
S-1. Your Documents/ Advice Listings and Orders
S-1.1 Documents/ Advices Information. You will, in accordance with applicable Program Policies, provide in the format we require. Documents/ Advices intended to be sold should be accurate and complete and thereafter posted through the SoOLEGAL Site and promptly update such information as necessary to ensure it at all times that such Documents/ Advices remain accurate and complete. You will also ensure that Your Materials, Your Documents/ Advices (including comments) and your offer and subsequent Transaction of any ancillary Documents/ Advice pertaining to the previous Documents/ Advices on the SoOLEGAL Site comply with all applicable Laws (including all marking and labeling requirements) and do not contain any sexually explicit, defamatory or obscene materials or any unlawful materials. You may not provide any information for, or otherwise seek to list for Transaction on the SoOLEGAL Site, any Excluded Documents/ Advices; or provide any URL Marks for use, or request that any URL Marks be used, on the SoOLEGAL Site. In any event of unlawful Documents/ Advices made available for Transaction by you on SoOLEGAL site, it is understood that liabilities limited or unlimited shall be yours exclusively to which SoOLEGAL officers, administrators, Affiliates among other authorized personnel shall not be held responsible and you shall be liable to appropriate action under applicable laws.
S-1.2 Documents/ Advices Listing; Merchandising; Order Processing. We will list Your Documents/ Advices for Transaction on the SoOLEGAL Site in the applicable Documents/ Advices categories which are supported for third party REGISTERED USERs generally on the SoOLEGAL Site on the applicable Transacting Associated Properties or any other functions, features, advertising, or programs on or in connection with the SoOLEGAL Site). SoOLEGAL reserves its right to restrict at any time in its sole discretion the access to list in any or all categories on the SoOLEGAL Site. We may use mechanisms that rate, or allow users to rate, Your Documents/ Advices and/or your performance as a REGISTERED USER on the SoOLEGAL Site and SoOLEGAL may make these ratings and feedback publicly available. We will provide Order Information to you for each of Your Transactions. Transactions Proceeds will be paid to you only in accordance with Section S-6.
S-1.3 a. It is mandatory to secure an advance amount from Client where SoOLEGAL Registered Consultant will raise an invoice asking for a 25% advance payment for the work that is committed to be performed for the Client of such SoOLEGAL Registered Consultant. The amount will be refunded to the client if the work is not done and uploaded to SoOLEGAL Repository within the stipulated timeline stated by SoOLEGAL Registered Consultant.
b. SoOLEGAL Consultant will be informed immediately on receipt of advance payment from Client which will be held by SoOLegal and will not be released to either Party and an email requesting the Registered Consultant will be sent to initiate the assignment.
c. The Registered Consultant will be asked on the timeline for completion of the assignment which will be intimated to Client.
d. Once the work is completed by the consultant the document/ advice note will be in SoOLEGAL repository and once Client makes rest of the payment, the full amount will be remitted to the consultant in the next payment cycle and the document access will be given to the client.
e. In the event where the Client fails to make payment of the balance amount within 30 days from the date of upload , the Registered Consultant shall receive the advance amount paid by the Client without any interest in the next time cycle after the lapse of 30 days.
S-1.4 Credit Card Fraud.
We will not bear the risk of credit card fraud (i.e. a fraudulent purchase arising from the theft and unauthorised use of a third party's credit card information) occurring in connection with Your Transactions. We may in our sole discretion withhold for investigation, refuse to process, restrict download for, stop and/or cancel any of Your Transactions. You will stop and/or cancel orders of Your Documents/ Advices if we ask you to do so. You will refund any customer (in accordance with Section S-2.2) that has been charged for an order that we stop or cancel.
S-2. Transaction and Fulfilment, Refunds and Returns
S-2.1 Transaction and Fulfilment:
Fulfilment – Fulfilment is categorised under the following heads:
1. Fulfilment by Registered User/ Consultant - In the event of Client seeking consultation, Registered User/ Consultant has to ensure the quality of the product and as per the requirement of the Client and if its not as per client, it will not be SoOLEGAL’s responsibility and it will be assumed that the Registered User/ Consultant and the Client have had correspondence before assigning the work to the Registered User/ Consultant.
2. Fulfilment by SoOLEGAL - If the Registered User/ Consultant has uploaded the Documents/ Advice in SoOLEGAL Site, SoOLEGAL Authorised personnel does not access such Documents/ Advice and privacy of the Client’s Documents/ Advice and information is confidential and will be encrypted and upon payment by Client, the Documents/ Advice is emailed by SoOLEGAL to them. Client’s information including email id will be furnished to SoOLEGAL by Registered User/ Consultant.
If Documents/ Advice is not sent to Client, SoOLEGAL will refund any amount paid to such Client’s account without interest within 60 days.
3. SoOLEGAL will charge 5% of the transaction value which is subject to change with time due to various economic and financial factors including inflation among other things, which will be as per SoOLEGAL’s discretion and will be informed to Registered Users about the same from time to time. Any tax applicable on Registered User/ Consultant is payable by such Registered User/ Consultant and not by SoOLEGAL.
4. SoOLEGAL will remit the fees (without any interest) to its Registered User/ Consultant every 15 (fifteen) days. If there is any discrepancy in such payment, it should be reported to Accounts Head of SoOLEGAL (accounts@soolegal.com) with all relevant account statement within fifteen days from receipt of that last cycle payment. Any discrepancy will be addressed in the next fifteen days cycle. If any discrepancy is not reported within 15 days of receipt of payment, such payment shall be deemed accepted and SoOLEGAL shall not entertain any such reports thereafter.
5. Any Registered User/ Consultant wishes to discontinue with this, such Registered User/ Consultant shall send email to SoOLEGAL and such account will be closed and all credits will be refunded to such Registered User/ Consultant after deducation of all taxes and applicable fees within 30 days. Other than as described in the Fulfilment by SoOLEGAL Terms & Conditions (if applicable to you), for the SoOLEGAL Site for which you register or use the Transacting on SoOLEGAL Service, you will: (a) source, fulfil and transact with your Documents/ Advices, in each case in accordance with the terms of the applicable Order Information, these Transaction Terms & Conditions, and all terms provided by you and displayed on the SoOLEGAL Site at the time of the order and be solely responsible for and bear all risk for such activities; (a) not cancel any of Your Transactions except as may be permitted pursuant to your Terms & Conditions appearing on the SoOLEGAL Site at the time of the applicable order (which Terms & Conditions will be in accordance with Transaction Terms & Conditions) or as may be required Transaction Terms & Conditions per the terms laid in this Documents/ Advice; in each case as requested by us using the processes designated by us, and we may make any of this information publicly available notwithstanding any other provision of the Terms mentioned herein, ensure that you are the REGISTERED USER of all Documents/ Advices made available for listing for Transaction hereunder; identify yourself as the REGISTERED USER of the Documents/ Advices on all downloads or other information included with Your Documents/ Advices and as the Person to which a customer may return the applicable Documents/ Advices; and
S-2.2 Returns and Refunds. For all of Your Documents/ Advices that are not fulfilled using Fulfilment by SoOLEGAL, you will accept and process returns, refunds and adjustments in accordance with these Transaction Terms & Conditions and the SoOLEGAL Refund Policies published at the time of the applicable order, and we may inform customers that these policies apply to Your Documents/ Advices. You will determine and calculate the amount of all refunds and adjustments (including any taxes, shipping of any hard copy and handling or other charges) or other amounts to be paid by you to customers in connection with Your Transactions, using a functionality we enable for Your Account. This functionality may be modified or discontinued by us at any time without notice and is subject to the Program Policies and the terms of thisTransaction Terms & Conditions Documents/ Advice. You will route all such payments through SoOLEGAL We will provide any such payments to the customer (which may be in the same payment form originally used to purchase Your Documents/ Advices), and you will reimburse us for all amounts so paid. For all of Your Documents/ Advices that are fulfilled using Fulfilment by SoOLEGAL, the SoOLEGAL Refund Policies published at the time of the applicable order will apply and you will comply with them. You will promptly provide refunds and adjustments that you are obligated to provide under the applicable SoOLEGAL Refund Policies and as required by Law, and in no case later than thirty (30) calendar days following after the obligation arises. For the purposes of making payments to the customer (which may be in the same payment form originally used to purchase Your Documents/ Advices), you authorize us to make such payments or disbursements from your available balance in the Nodal Account (as defined in Section S-6). In the event your balance in the Nodal Account is insufficient to process the refund request, we will process such amounts due to the customer on your behalf, and you will reimburse us for all such amount so paid.
S-5. Compensation
You will pay us: (a) the applicable Referral Fee; (b) any applicable Closing Fees; and (c) if applicable, the non-refundable Transacting on SoOLEGAL Subscription Fee in advance for each month (or for each transaction, if applicable) during the Term of this Transaction Terms & Conditions. "Transacting on SoOLEGAL Subscription Fee" means the fee specified as such on the Transacting on SoOLEGALSoOLEGAL Fee Schedule for the SoOLEGAL Site at the time such fee is payable. With respect to each of Your Transactions: (x) "Transactions Proceeds" has the meaning set out in the Transaction Terms & Conditions; (y) "Closing Fees" means the applicable fee, if any, as specified in the Transacting on SoOLEGAL Fee Schedule for the SoOLEGAL Site; and (z) "Referral Fee" means the applicable percentage of the Transactions Proceeds from Your Transaction through the SoOLEGAL Site specified on the Transacting on SoOLEGAL Fee Schedule for the SoOLEGAL Site at the time of Your Transaction, based on the categorization by SoOLEGAL of the type of Documents/ Advices that is the subject of Your Transaction; provided, however, that Transactions Proceeds will not include any shipping charge set by us in the case of Your Transactions that consist solely of SoOLEGAL-Fulfilled Documents/ Advices. Except as provided otherwise, all monetary amounts contemplated in these Service Terms will be expressed and provided in the Local Currency, and all payments contemplated by this Transaction Terms & Conditions will be made in the Local Currency.
All taxes or surcharges imposed on fees payable by you to SoOLEGAL will be your responsibility.
S-6 Transactions Proceeds & Refunds.
S-6.1.Nodal Account. Remittances to you for Your Transactions will be made through a nodal account (the "Nodal Account") in accordance with the directions issued by Reserve Bank of India for the opening and operation of accounts and settlement of payments for electronic payment transactions involving intermediaries vide its notification RBI/2009-10/231 DPSS.CO.PD.No.1102 / 02.14.08/ 2009-10 dated November 24, 2009. You hereby agree and authorize us to collect payments on your behalf from customers for any Transactions. You authorize and permit us to collect and disclose any information (which may include personal or sensitive information such as Your Bank Account information) made available to us in connection with the Transaction Terms & Conditions mentioned hereunder to a bank, auditor, processing agency, or third party contracted by us in connection with this Transaction Terms & Conditions.
Subject to and without limiting any of the rights described in Section 2 of the General Terms, we may hold back a portion or your Transaction Proceeds as a separate reserve ("Reserve"). The Reserve will be in an amount as determined by us and the Reserve will be used only for the purpose of settling the future claims of customers in the event of non-fulfillment of delivery to the customers of your Documents/ Advices keeping in mind the period for refunds and chargebacks.
S-6.2. Except as otherwise stated in this Transaction Terms & Conditions Documents/ Advice (including without limitation Section 2 of the General Terms), you authorize us and we will remit the Settlement Amount to Your Bank Account on the Payment Date in respect of an Eligible Transaction. When you either initially provide or later change Your Bank Account information, the Payment Date will be deferred for a period of up to 14 calendar days. You will not have the ability to initiate or cause payments to be made to you. If you refund money to a customer in connection with one of Your Transactions in accordance with Section S-2.2, on the next available Designated Day for SoOLEGAL Site, we will credit you with the amount to us attributable to the amount of the customer refund, less the Refund Administration Fee for each refund, which amount we may retain as an administrative fee.
"Eligible Transaction" means Your Transaction against which the actual shipment date has been confirmed by you.
"Designated Day" means any particular Day of the week designated by SoOLEGAL on a weekly basis, in its sole discretion, for making remittances to you.
"Payment Date" means the Designated Day falling immediately after 14 calendar days (or less in our sole discretion) of the Eligible Transaction.
"Settlement Amount" means Invoices raised through SoOLEGAL Platform (which you will accept as payment in full for the Transaction and shipping and handling of Your Documents/ Advices), less: (a) the Referral Fees due for such sums; (b) any Transacting on SoOLEGAL Subscription Fees due; (c) taxes required to be charged by us on our fees; (d) any refunds due to customers in connection with the SoOLEGAL Site; (e) Reserves, as may be applicable, as per this Transaction Terms & Conditions; (f) Closing Fees, if applicable; and (g) any other applicable fee prescribed under the Program Policies. SoOLEGAL shall not be responsible for
S-6.3. In the event that we elect not to recover from you a customer's chargeback, failed payment, or other payment reversal (a "Payment Failure"), you irrevocably assign to us all your rights, title and interest in and associated with that Payment Failure.
S-7. Control of Site
Notwithstanding any provision of this Transaction Terms & Conditions, we will have the right in our sole discretion to determine the content, appearance, design, functionality and all other aspects of the SoOLEGAL Site and the Transacting on SoOLEGAL Service (including the right to re-design, modify, remove and alter the content, appearance, design, functionality, and other aspects of, and prevent or restrict access to any of the SoOLEGAL Site and the Transacting on SoOLEGAL Service and any element, aspect, portion or feature thereof (including any listings), from time to time) and to delay or suspend listing of, or to refuse to list, or to de-list, or require you not to list any or all Documents/ Advices on the SoOLEGAL Site in our sole discretion.
S-8. Effect of Termination
Upon termination of this Contract, the Transaction Terms & Conditions automatiocally stands terminated and in connection with the SoOLEGAL Site, all rights and obligations of the parties under these Service Terms with regard to the SoOLEGAL Site will be extinguished, except that the rights and obligations of the parties with respect to Your Transactions occurring during the Term will survive the termination or expiration of the Term.
"SoOLEGAL Refund Policies" means the return and refund policies published on the SoOLEGAL Site.
"Required Documents/ Advices Information" means, with respect to each of Your Documents/ Advices in connection with the SoOLEGAL Site, the following (except to the extent expressly not required under the applicable Policies) categorization within each SoOLEGAL Documents/ Advices category and browse structure as prescribed by SoOLEGAL from time to time, Purchase Price; Documents/ Advice Usage, any text, disclaimers, warnings, notices, labels or other content required by applicable Law to be displayed in connection with the offer, merchandising, advertising or Transaction of Your Documents/ Advices, requirements, fees or other terms and conditions applicable to such Documents/ Advices that a customer should be aware of prior to purchasing the Documents/ Advices;
"Transacting on SoOLEGAL Launch Date" means the date on which we first list one of Your Documents/ Advices for Transaction on the SoOLEGAL Site.
"URL Marks" means any Trademark, or any other logo, name, phrase, identifier or character string, that contains or incorporates any top level domain (e.g., .com, co.in, co.uk, .in, .de, .es, .edu, .fr, .jp) or any variation thereof (e.g., dot com, dotcom, net, or com).
"Your Transaction" is defined in the Transaction Terms & Conditions; however, as used in Terms & Conditions, it shall mean any and all such transactions whereby you conduct Transacting of Documents/ Advices or advice sought from you by clients/ customers in writing or by any other mode which is in coherence with SoOLEGAL policy on SoOLEGAL site only.
Taxes on Fees Payable to SoOLEGAL. In regard to these Service Terms you can provide a PAN registration number or any other Registration/ Enrolment number that reflects your Professional capacity by virtue of various enactments in place. If you are PAN registered, or any professional Firm but not PAN registered, you give the following warranties and representations:
(a) all services provided by SoOLEGAL to you are being received by your establishment under your designated PAN registration number; and
SoOLEGAL reserves the right to request additional information and to confirm the validity of any your account information (including without limitation your PAN registration number) from you or government authorities and agencies as permitted by Law and you hereby irrevocably authorize SoOLEGAL to request and obtain such information from such government authorities and agencies. Further, you agree to provide any such information to SoOLEGAL upon request. SoOLEGAL reserves the right to charge you any applicable unbilled PAN if you provide a PAN registration number, or evidence of being in a Professional Firm, that is determined to be invalid. PAN registered REGISTERED USERs and REGISTERED USERs who provide evidence of being in Law Firm agree to accept electronic PAN invoices in a format and method of delivery as determined by SoOLEGAL.
All payments by SoOLEGAL to you shall be made subject to any applicable withholding taxes under the applicable Law. SoOLEGAL will retain, in addition to its net Fees, an amount equal to the legally applicable withholding taxes at the applicable rate. You are responsible for deducting and depositing the legally applicable taxes and deliver to SoOLEGAL sufficient Documents/ Advice evidencing the deposit of tax. Upon receipt of the evidence of deduction of tax, SoOLEGAL will remit the amount evidenced in the certificate to you. Upon your failure to duly deposit these taxes and providing evidence to that effect within 5 days from the end of the relevant month, SoOLEGAL shall have the right to utilize the retained amount for discharging its tax liability.
Where you have deposited the taxes, you will issue an appropriate tax withholding certificate for such amount to SoOLEGAL and SoOLEGAL shall provide necessary support and Documents/ Adviceation as may be required by you for discharging your obligations.
SoOLEGAL has the option to obtain an order for lower or NIL withholding tax from the Indian Revenue authorities. In case SoOLEGAL successfully procures such an order, it will communicate the same to you. In that case, the amounts retained, shall be in accordance with the directions contained in the order as in force at the point in time when tax is required to be deducted at source.
Any taxes applicable in addition to the fee payable to SoOLEGAL shall be added to the invoiced amount as per applicable Law at the invoicing date which shall be paid by you.F.11. Indemnity
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Category and Documents/ Advice RestrictionsCertain Documents/ Advices cannot be listed or sold on SoOLEGAL site as a matter of compliance with legal or regulatory restrictions (for example, prescription drugs) or in accordance with SoOLEGAL policy (for example, crime scene photos). SoOLEGAL's policies also prohibit specific types of Documents/ Advice content. For guidelines on prohibited content and copyright violations, see our Prohibited Content list. For some Documents/ Advice categories, REGISTERED USERS may not create Documents/ Advice listings without prior approval from SoOLEGAL. |
In addition to your obligations under Section 6 of the Transaction Terms & Conditions, you also agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless us, our Affiliates and their and our respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents against any Claim that arises out of or relates to: (a) the Units (whether or not title has transferred to us, and including any Unit that we identify as yours pursuant to Section F-4 regardless of whether such Unit is the actual item you originally sent to us), including any personal injury, death or property damage; and b) any of Your Taxes or the collection, payment or failure to collect or pay Your Taxes.
Registered Users must at all times adhere to the following rules for the Documents/ Advices they intend to put on Transaction:
The "Add a Documents/ Advice" feature allows REGISTERED USERS to create Documents/ Advice details pages for Documents/ Advices.
The following rules and restrictions apply to REGISTERED USERS who use the SoOLEGAL.in "Add a Documents/ Advice" feature.
Using this feature for any purpose other than creating Documents/ Advice details pages is prohibited.
Any Documents/ Advice already in the SoOLEGAL.in catalogue which is not novel and/ or unique or has already been provided by any other Registered User which may give rise to Intellectual Property infringement of any other Registered User is prohibited.
Detail pages may not feature or contain Prohibited Content or .
The inclusion of any of the following information in detail page titles, descriptions, bullet points, or images is prohibited:
Information which is grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous, defamatory, pedophilic, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, pornographic, obscene or offensive content or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatever.
Availability, price, condition, alternative ordering information (such as links to other websites for placing orders).
Reviews, quotes or testimonials.
Solicitations for positive customer reviews.
Advertisements, promotional material, or watermarks on images, photos or videos.
Time-sensitive information
Information which belongs to another person and to which the REGISTERED USER does not have any right to.
Information which infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights.
Information which deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of the messages or communicates any information which is grossly offensive or menacing in nature.
Information which threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order or causes incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any other nation.
Information containing software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource.
Information violating any law for the time being in force.
All Documents/ Advices should be appropriately and accurately classified to the most specific location available. Incorrectly classifying Documents/ Advices is prohibited.
Documents/ Advice titles, Documents/ Advice descriptions, and bullets must be clearly written and should assist the customer in understanding the Documents/ Advice. .
All Documents/ Advice images must meet SoOLEGAL general standards as well as any applicable category-specific image guidelines.
Using bad data (HTML, special characters */? etc.) in titles, descriptions, bullets and for any other attribute is prohibited.
Do not include HTML, DHTML, Java, scripts or other types of executables in your detail pages.
Prohibited REGISTERED USER Activities and Actions
SoOLEGAL.com REGISTERED USER Rules are established to maintain a transacting platform that is safe for buyers and fair for REGISTERED USERS. Failure to comply with the terms of the REGISTERED USER Rules can result in cancellation of listings, suspension from use of SoOLEGAL.in tools and reports, or the removal of transacting privileges.
Attempts to divert transactions or buyers: Any attempt to circumvent the established SoOLEGAL Transactions process or to divert SoOLEGAL users to another website or Transactions process is prohibited. Specifically, any advertisements, marketing messages (special offers) or "calls to action" that lead, prompt, or encourage SoOLEGALusers to leave the SoOLEGAL website are prohibited. Prohibited activities include the following:
The use of e-mail intended to divert customers away from the SoOLEGAL.com Transactions process.
Unauthorised & improper "Names": A REGISTERED USER's Name (identifying the REGISTERED USER's entity on SoOLEGAL.com) must be a name that: accurately identifies the REGISTERED USER; is not misleading: and the REGISTERED USER has the right to use (that is, the name cannot include the trademark of, or otherwise infringe on, any trademark or other intellectual property right of any person). Furthermore, a REGISTERED USER cannot use a name that contains an e-mail suffix such as .com, .net, .biz, and so on.
Unauthorised & improper invoicing: REGISTERED USERS must ensure that the tax invoice is raised in the name of the end customer who has placed an order with them through SoOLEGAL Payment Systems platform . The tax invoice should not mention SoOLEGAL as either a REGISTERED USER or a customer/buyer. Please note that all Documents/ Advices listed on SoOLEGAL.com are sold by the respective REGISTERED USERS to the end customers and SoOLEGAL is neither a buyer nor a REGISTERED USER in the transaction. REGISTERED USERS need to include the PAN/ Service Tax registration number in the invoice.
Inappropriate e-mail communications: All REGISTERED USER e-mail communications with buyers must be courteous, relevant and appropriate. Unsolicited e-mail communications with SoOLEGAL , e-mail communications other than as necessary and related customer service, and e-mails containing marketing communications of any kind (including within otherwise permitted communications) are prohibited.
Operating multiple REGISTERED USER accounts: Operating and maintaining multiple REGISTERED USER accounts is prohibited.
In your request, please provide an explanation of the legitimate business need for a second account.
Misuse of Search and Browse: When customers use SoOLEGAL's search engine and browse structure, they expect to find relevant and accurate results. To protect the customer experience, all Documents/ Advice-related information, including keywords and search terms, must comply with the guidelines provided under . Any attempt to manipulate the search and browse experience is prohibited.
Misuse
of the ratings, feedback or Documents/ Advice reviews: REGISTERED
USERS cannot submit abusive or inappropriate feedback entries,
coerce or threaten buyers into submitting feedback, submit
transaction feedback regarding them, or include personal information
about a transaction partner within a feedback entry. Furthermore,
any attempt to manipulate ratings of any REGISTERED USER is
prohibited. Any attempt to manipulate ratings, feedback, or
Documents/ Advice reviews is prohibited.
Reviews: Reviews
are important to the SoOLEGAL Platform, providing a forum for
feedback about Documents/ Advice and service details and reviewers'
experiences with Documents/ Advices and services –
positive
or negative. You may not write reviews for Documents/ Advices or
services that you have a financial interest in, including reviews
for Documents/ Advices or services that you or your competitors deal
with. Additionally, you may not provide compensation for a review
(including free or discounted Documents/ Advices). Review
solicitations that ask for only positive reviews or that offer
compensation are prohibited. You may not ask buyers to modify or
remove reviews.
Prohibited Content
REGISTERED USERS are expected to conduct proper research to ensure that the items posted to our website are in compliance with all applicable laws. If we determine that the content of a Documents/ Advice detail page or listing is prohibited, potentially illegal, or inappropriate, we may remove or alter it without prior notice. SoOLEGAL reserves the right to make judgments about whether or not content is appropriate.
The
following list of prohibited Documents/ Advices comprises two
sections: Prohibited Content and Intellectual Property
Violations.
Listing
prohibited content may result in the cancellation of your listings,
or the suspension or removal of your transacting privileges.
REGISTERED USERS are responsible for ensuring that the Documents/
Advices they offer are legal and authorised for Transaction or
re-Transaction.
If
we determine that the content of a Documents/ Advice detail page or
listing is prohibited, potentially illegal, or inappropriate, we may
remove or alter it without prior notice. SoOLEGAL reserves the right
to make judgments about whether or not content is appropriate.
Illegal and potentially illegal Documents/ Advices: Documents/ Advices sold on SoOLEGAL.in must adhere to all applicable laws. As REGISTERED USERS are legally liable for their actions and transactions, they must know the legal parameters surrounding any Documents/ Advice they display on our website.
Offensive material: SoOLEGAL reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of listings posted to our website.
Nudity: In general, images that portray nudity in a gratuitous or graphic manner are prohibited.
Items that infringe upon an individual's privacy. SoOLEGAL holds personal privacy in the highest regard. Therefore, items that infringe upon, or have potential to infringe upon, an individual's privacy are prohibited.
Intellectual Property Violations
Counterfeit merchandise: Documents/ Advices displayed on our website must be authentic. Any Documents/ Advice that has been illegally replicated, reproduced or manufactured is prohibited.
Books - Unauthorised copies of books are prohibited.
Movies - Unauthorised copies of movies in any format are prohibited. Unreleased/prereleased movies, screeners, trailers, unpublished and unauthorized film scripts (no ISBN number), electronic press kits, and unauthorised props are also prohibited.
Photos - Unauthorised copies of photos are prohibited.
Television Programs - Unauthorised copies of television Programs (including pay-per-view events), Programs never broadcast, unauthorised scripts, unauthorised props, and screeners are prohibited.
Transferred media. Media transferred from one format to another is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to: films converted from NTSC to Pal and Pal to NTSC, laserdisc to video, television to video, CD-ROM to cassette tape, from the Internet to any digital format, etc.
Promotional media: Promotional versions of media Documents/ Advices, including books (advance reading copies and uncorrected proofs), music, and videos (screeners) are prohibited. These Documents/ Advices are distributed for promotional consideration and generally are not authorized for Transaction.
Rights of Publicity: Celebrity images and/or the use of celebrity names cannot be used for commercial purposes without permission of a celebrity or their management. This includes Documents/ Advice endorsements and use of a celebrity's likeness on merchandise such as posters, mouse pads, clocks, image collections in digital format, and so on.
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Difficulties faced by men in Family Courts
Awoman in India can file various cases against men according to the Indian laws. A marriage is considered as a soulful connection between a man and the woman and is performed through different marriage laws which include the Hindu Marriage Act, Personal Marriage Act, etc. However, nowadays, this institution of marriage is easily broken. There has been an increase in the number of the breakdown of wedlocks each year either due to the fault of the husband or the wife. The divorce rate of marriage in India is increasing every year. According to the reports,1out of every 100 marriages, is broken and is taken to court every year. Due to this increasing rates of divorce every year, strict laws have been implemented which safeguards the interest of the women, but at the same time, does not give much importance to the problems that a man has to go through in a family court.
A family court witnesses’ matters that are related to the family. It includes divorce cases, property-related cases, annulment cases, etc. Most of the cases which are related to divorce are always biased against the husband unless and until it is not a mutual consent divorce. A divorce which is filed by the wife always backfires on the husband. The husband does not only tackle the trauma of divorce, but he also undergoes issues like filing of FIRs against him, allegations of domestic violence and dowry, matters related to maintenance and alimony etc. With this, a father also has to fight for child custody, which normally turns out to be in favour of the mother, as a mother holds the primary rights of her child. This has been held and reiterated in many decisions of the apex court, that except in situations where the child is able to form an opinion of his own, it is in the interest of the child that custody matters need to be determined, and the same has been held in Elizabeth R. Dinnshaw v Arvind M. Dinshaw 1987 AIE 3 here it was the case that the minor was not old enough to form his ownopinion on the matter of custody, and the court had to make the call, it decided the matter in the mother’s favour, despite the different considerations weighed by the court in deciding the matter, it has since then become a rule of thumb that the child will be in the custody of the mother in the event of discord within the partners.
A wife is entitled to file a complaint against the husband under Section 498A, IPC, The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Domestic Violence Act, 2005. This paper extensively talks about the problems that men deal in the family court. It talks about how some Indian laws are favoured towards women, and for men, it gets tough and ugly to prove himself asinnocent. This paper will also provide the reader with landmark judgments that have created some change in the country and have impacted the subject of the law to make some necessary amendments.
Discussed below is a list of major issue faced by men and his family members.
Section 498 A of IPC
According to section 498 which defines cruelty, the same is repeated in the DV Act, but for consideration in this section of the paper, Sec. 498A shall suffice, cruelty has been defined as follows:Including verbal as well as physical abuse by the husband or by his family. In Law context, there is a maxim known as Audi Alteram Partem (hear the other side), but it is important to note that, in practicality, section 498 of IPC has swept away this fundamental right as once a case is filed by the women, the police hardly listen to the men.
Moreover, what makes this law tougher is its subject matter. The Indian penal code has no definite definition of the term “Cruelty”, and therefore, anything done by the husband which goes against the ethics of the society is termed as cruelty and based on that FIRs are lodged. With this, it is a non-bailable and non-compoundable offence which makes it difficult for the men dealing with it. It should be noted that, at the stage of registering of offence, the officers in charge have been known to show no discretion in registering the offence, despite in some situations outright inconsistencies in the complaint filed before them. This, combined with the ability of the litigant to include the family members of the husband in the complaint, usually results in harassment by police and investigating personnel, of the husband and his family.
The Madras court in Rukmani v Manonmani 2017 SCC OnLine 20343 demonstrates the potential and the difficulty in establishing the veracity of a vexatious complaint: In the matter, even though the complaint itself was a fiction, and it was prima facie to the HC, the District Court refused to quash the proceedings, and even refused to refer the act and complaint. It is important to note that in most instances of such alleged abuse, the courts have been quick to detect this same and make appropriate order in the matter: Saritha v R. Ramachandra2003 (1) E.C.R. Crim. 481, is a prime example of it, whereas part of a divorceproceeding on the grounds of cruelty the wife had filed under Sec. 498A against the whole family, the HC struck the complaint down, highlighting the possibility of vexatious complaints, and the duty of courts to detect the same. Something similarcame before the Punjaband Haryana HC in Harjinder Kaur and Anr. V State of Punjab2004 (4) R.C.R. Crim. 432,where the court had to determine the complaint under Sec. 498A filed against the family of the husband, where some of the co-accused were minors at the time ofthe alleged offence; Then court noted the same and opined that the complaint had included as many people as it could, without any proper consideration to the factual matrix. Courts have been aware of the misuse potential of Sec. 498, and the Madhya Pradesh HC has even recommended that the section be made compounded so that an amicable settlement could be reached between the parties: Ramgopal v State of MP. SLP (Ct.) No. 6494 of 2010The most prominent example of this judicial opinion towards Sec. 498A can be seen in the SC decision, and obiter dictum by J. Chandramauli Kumar Prasad held that due to its non-bailable and cognizable offence, it has lent it a dubious place among provisions that are misused, and are rife with potential for harassment, Primarily held in Social Action Forum for Manav Adhiikar v UOI(2018) 10 SCC 443there isampleprecedent since then, to demonstrate that there have been so many instances of harassment and misuse of the section that, the judiciary has taken cognizance, an recommended measures to be taken by the legislature.
The wife on the other side, makes it sure, that such complaints are lodged on Friday so that the defendant at least for the next two days cannot apply for bail since the courts are shut on the weekend. This was a major issue that was witnessed by the husband and his family, and due to the increasing cases of false complaints by the wife and due to the unavailability of any physical evidences, the courts used to give misgivings. However, according to the reports, a quarter of the arrested were women relatives of the husband. Charge-sheets were filed in almost all cases (93.6%), but convictions were abysmally low, at under 15%. Something was obviously wrong. At that rate, the report went on to say, 372,306 pending cases will have 317,000 acquittals. This low rate of conviction could be interpreted two ways, one that the inherent nature of domestic violence cases contributes to difficulty in establishing cases against accused, or that there are in fact, so few instances of proven domestic abuseand the cases and complaints filed have been merely to harass and intimidate the husband and his family. While neither of these assertions has been confirmed, nor denied, this statistical figure begs the question, whether more cases than necessary are clogging the docket.
The above report states that the courts will have to look for an alternate method that deals with speedy disposal of trials and something to be done with the false complaints lodged by the wife for malicious intentions.
· It should be noted, that the courts have already made guidelines for disposalofcomplaints filed pursuant to filing under Sec. 498A. in the abovementioned case of Amresh Kumar,the SC endeavoured to make the following rules to ensure that automatic arrest and detention does not become the norm in such matters:Police officers shall fill in the checklist before making a decision in the arrest of a person accused.
· The police shall satisfy themselves that thereis a genuine case for abuse before registering the offence.
· The decision by the police will be cross verified by the Magistrate.
Through these measures, the court ensures that cases of domestic abuse/ violence are not vexatious registered, and in the event that they are such ill intentions and false decisions are detected early in the investigative process.
Dowry Demands
The various provision covering the mental abuses with respect to women in India have also covered an interpretation regarding protecting the rights and interest of men on the same parlance. Covering various rights promised by the Preamble of India have further segregated and clubbed under various Act or laws. This article further narrows down by giving serious consideration to a wider understanding of these rights relating to the harassment and troubles faced by the men and their family members in society after a complaint or a suit filed by women by taking undue advantages of the provisions legislated to protect her interest in the society. In India, as far as marriages are concerned as quoted as wedlock between the families of the two individuals is far more than wedlock between the two individuals. Its tradition involves many rituals followed by some age-old practises such as dowry. Dowry in simplest term can be defined as kind or money itself given to the groom by the family members of the bride as a gift. The law has termed dowry from a period till today as a criminal offence if it is demanded from the natal family of the bride, and there are serious consequences if any person has conducted any act of dowry demand in the territory of India. The legislation understanding various criminal activities that are associated with or are the result of the dowry demands should be prohibited for the harmony of the state, with a clear objective legislature has passed an Act that regulates and prohibits such activities, i.e. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
Though legislation incorporated the act with the intent to protect women it has also did not contemplate the abuse of it against the men in the society, there are provisions made specifically with the single objective which in turn has beenunderstood as adouble-edged sword. Dowry Demand has turned against the men in the society with various matters everyday being filed in the police stations or with the women’s development cell of the country reiterating these provisions taking hold of men without being provided with an opportunity of being heard.
In the case of Pushkar Singh, it was seen that a resident (Pushkar Singh) residing at Lucknow committed suicide writing a note stating the in-laws are solely responsible for his death. Pushkar Singh was wrongly sentenced to imprisonment under section 4984, 323 and 504 of IPC. The wife in here filed against the husband stating the false demand of the dowry of Rs. 14,00,000/-. The deceased mentioned in the note that this case has also led in financial difficulties for him and his family they also have sold their house for procurement of some financial gain for survival.
Cruelty under the Domestic Violence Act
While explaining the cruelty the basic understanding of the point of view is that a mere annoyance not of any serious consequences in matrimonial affairs would not be treated as cruelty it has to be seen in an angle of nature of any act found to rare unlike routine discussed quarrel and is of serious nature that might lead to grave consequences to either spouse by the other. Any such act can only be termed cruelty which though not satisfying all inhuman or extreme inhuman condition but are considerable enough for protection of either party in matrimonial affairs.
Domestic Violence Act in its inception was enacted with a sole objective to curb the violence against the women in the country majorly violence’s involved in matrimonial affairs, but such provision protecting the rights of the women have proven to be fatal for men. The data signifies that many false Domestic violence cases have been filed by women, in turn, to coerce men into fulfilling impossible or unethical desires. A report submitted by the two non-profit organizations, save family Foundation and My Nation Foundation have published a survey which provides that out of 1,00,000 reports filed by the women in the country between the year 2016-17, only 2.8% of the cases were actually proven to be of some validity. The data provided by the National Crime Record Bureau that as compared to women, 21.16% of more men than women were reported to commit suicides due to DV.
During suchpending litigation that eventually relates to curtailing the rights of the men by providing extra protection as assumed by the government towards women have led to many fatalities resulting suicides, depression, insanity and other inhuman activities out of frustration of having no remedy to set the matter out. Many organisations and advocates understanding the nature of the provision under various women protection law have advocated the needfor new legislation or at least amendment in the law, in order to protect the interest of men. The Honourable Apex Court has understood the need to provide various direction to be provided to police in dealing with a various matter involving domestic violence, dowry, abuse or cruelty. This context changed in respect of the men after the #metoo movement launched where women were freely asked to file complaints against any act of violence against them; there were many fakes cases being reported against men.
Protection
The Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) deals with the procedure to deal withcriminal complaints filed by any person in prayer to authority to act in their capacity to take steps to mitigate the loss or reinstate the right of the pleader. The various sectionsdealing with the protection of any person who is the opinion of the complaint raised against him is false or futile
Further various legal remedies have been made available to any person who is accused by any person under any law enacted to protect women’s rights. A person can seek protection` under these provision mentioned:
Section 227: The section states that any person believing the complaint raised by his wife is false according to him the person has to provide the evidence in contrary to the complaint on this basis and the Honorable Magistrate can dismiss the plea by the spouse under section 498A and decide accordingly.
Section 438: This section in CrPC deals with presenting an appeal or making an application for bail before the session court to circumvent the arrest from the police; this application is also known as Anticipatory Bail.
Section 482: The inherent power of the High Court to dismiss the matter if the evidence or testimony does not seem to support the accusation made against the person (spouse) by his wife where such section deals with an objective that any power of the law to protect the interest should not be used for personal vendetta or as a weapon for undue advantage, this can also be used to quash the FIR by any person.
The Honorable Apex Court, while envisaging the guidelines for the use of section 482 states the list of pointers to be included in the application:
a. No prima facie case
b. Absence of cognizable offence
c. Crime in the case cannot be disclosed
d. Lack of evidence
e. Time barred by the Limitation Act
f. Vexatious in nature
A person can also file the complaint under section 9 of Civil Procedure Code, 1908 to recover the damages a person faced under the proceeding or police custody for the false case.
As per the finding of the Apex Court in the case decided by the Honorable High Court in Anuj Chaudhary v/s State of Uttar Pradesh stated that there cannot be two or more / any multiple FIR of the same offence. Any person filing multiple FIRs will be considered as one offence if the matter of the offence is same and person lodging the FIR praying for the same remedy from the state authority (police) this contemplation was provided by section 154 of Indian Penal Code.
The Indian Penal Code governs, regulate, and directs the punishment found guilty under the crime of any nature (whether heinous or non-heinous). There are various provision protecting the rights of spouse if being caught in case of heinous nature if such person believes himself to be innocent.
· Section 120B: This section deals with criminal conspiracy, any person filing a suit or complaining about any person to the state authority and such complaint has no stand or basis or that person has no locus standii in filing complaint such person is at good faith to file a complaint under section 120B to prove the complaint is a mere conspiracy against him.
· Section 182: This section deals with protecting the interest of the person against his spouse if the wife submitted or provided false evidence for the public servant to act accordingly.
· Section 191: This section states that person can file a complaint under this section, raising doubt on all the documents presented by his wife to authority seeking benefits of false evidence.
· Section 504: This section deal with any act by spouse or communication by way of oral or written to provoke the other party in acting against with an intent to make it a reason for filing a complaint or instigating a situation of violence to provide evidence to false accused.
The Apex court states that any person filing FIR does not conclude with translating it into the immediate arrest of the person against whom a complaint hasbeen filed. The court hastime and again reiterated the cardinal principle of “presumption of innocence” where it states that every person is to be treated as innocent until proven guilty. In the case of Advait Amrish Goel v/s Mukesh school of technology,it was laid down that mere filing of the FIR would not be understood as gospel truth.
In the case of Arnesh Kumar v/s State of Bihar the apex court states that section 41 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 should be implemented and practised by the police if any cases have been registered under section 498A of IPC. Further, it states that there should a change in police arrest techniques a human conception should be applied to every case depending on the gravity and police acumen to take the next step. Arresting a person on the filing of FIR violates the cardinal principle of the law,and it also results in the violation of the rights of the person provided by the Constitution of India. The arrest of any person in violation of Article 14 that provides equal protection of the law and equality before the law. It also curtails the freedom of life and liberty thus should be made proper accordance of the law. The law provides the authority to arrest a person without a warrant in the cognizable offence, but it also restricts the police to arrest of any person chargeable with imprisonment of more than 7 years under section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1960 if the presiding officer according to him is not satisfied withthe arrest to be made.
The Apex Court further states that any person on the basis of the cardinal rule and also if the court has no evidence to believe either the offence that has been committed or under argument provided by the counsel has reason to believe of being harmless should be provided bail until the matter concluded.
Conclusion
Mental illness contributes to one’s health in a very drastic way. We often tend to ignore this aspect as it does not attract any major law. But right now, it is the need of the hour, that stringent law should be made which are able to protect and safeguard a man’s mental health that arises solely due to the false circumstances that a woman creates.
The family welfare program has been constituted by the government that takes as the duty to protect the rights of the victim and his family member in cases causing mental trauma or economical diseconomies. Various groups have been formed in protecting the rights of men, and they have taken up the issue that is causing them serious consequences in their life.
The author of this blog/Article is Kishan Dutt Kalaskar, a Retired Judge and practising advocate having an experience of 35+ years in handling different legal matters. He has prepared and got published Head Notes for more than 10,000 Judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts in different Law Journals. From his experience he wants to share this beneficial information for the individuals having any issues with respect to their related matters .
Author :
Kishan Dutt Kalaskar
Advocate (Retired Judge)
Bengaluru-560003
kalaskarnetra@gmail.com
Mob: 9686971935