Reported By: Salil Tiwari
Last Updated: March 25, 2023, 00:27 IST
The Andhra Pradesh HC said cruelty was not a fact isolated from the environment and background of the spouses. (Representational image)
The high court acquitted a woman and her son in a dowry death case, saying a praise or a comment with reference to work being done is a common factor in any household
The Andhra Pradesh High Court recently observed that a married woman being told by her mother-in-law that she requires more perfection in doing or attending to household duties, can never amount to cruelty or harassment.
The bench of Justice VRK Krupa Sagar said a praise or a comment with reference to work being done is a common factor in any household. The court was dealing with an appeal filed by a woman and her son in a dowry death case.
Both appellants were convicted under Section 304B read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and each was punished to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years. The charges were that they had caused the death of the married woman in question by subjecting her to cruelty. The woman had died within eight months of her marriage in April 2008.
Moving the appeal, they argued that the woman was, in fact, sick and her illness was proved through evidence. They also submitted that cruelty or harassment with reference to dowry was never established and death was not proved as a definite result out of injuries allegedly on the woman’s body.
The high court noted that on considering the evidence of different witnesses, the trial court had found the fact as established that the appellants had been complaining that the woman was not doing household work properly. It also found that the husband had been demanding Rs 50,000 from the woman to do a computer course, which led to her death.
While examining the case record, the HC said the facts put together indicated that the couple was living a normal life.
“There has been no criminal history either for the accused or for the prosecution witnesses. Drawing a comparison for marriage celebrations or elders telling the newly married girl about the need for attending to household work more efficiently, are in no way connected to dowry and cruelty with reference to dowry as mentioned in Section 304B IPC,” the court said.
The court further said cruelty was not a fact isolated from the environment and background of the spouses. “There shall be no speculation or ambiguity in the evidence,” it added.
The court also said from the facts of the case, it could not be established that it was the comments or the demand of Rs 50,000 that had led to the woman’s death.
In view of this, the HC held that the prosecution failed to bring the alleged conduct of the appellant within the parameters of dowry death as defined in Section 304B of the IPC. Accordingly, it allowed the criminal appeal and acquitted both appellants.
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