● The Hon’ble SC has observed that if the prosecution has been able to establish that soon before her death, a woman was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or his relatives in connection with any demand for dowry, the Court can proceed on the presumption that the persons who have subjected her to cruelty in connection with the demand for dowry have caused her death under section 304B of IPC.
● In the instant case, the informant Bodhi Mahto had married his daughter to Ram Sahay Mahto. Just after a few months the husband's mother and father started harassing his daughter and demanded Rs.20,000 and a bike. When she expressed her family’s inability to satisfy these demands, she was assaulted and threatened.
● When Bodhi Mahto’s daughter went missing from her home, a complaint was filed under section 304/201/34 of IPC. A charge sheet was filed on the basis of the investigation and the accused were booked in the aforementioned sections along with section 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act.
● Seeing the overwhelming evidence against the accused, coupled with the fact the victim’s body was recovered from the banks of the river Barakar, the trial court convicted the accused under sections 304B/34 and 201/34 of IPC and were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for ten years.
● The Hon’ble HC of Jharkhand upheld the conviction of the Trial Court. Aggrieved by this, the accused approached the Hon’ble SC.
● The Bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli has observed the following-
“Section 304B IPC read in conjunction with section 113B of the Evidence Act leaves no manner of doubt that once the prosecution has been able to demonstrate that a woman has been subjected to cruelty or harassment for or in connection with any demand for dowry, soon before her death, the Courts shall proceed upon the presumption that the persons who have subjected her to cruelty or harassment in connection with the demand for dowry, have caused the dowry death within the meaning of section 304B of IPC”.
● The Court further laid down the guidelines to be followed while convicting the accused under 304B of IPC-
a) “The death of the woman must have been caused by burns or bodily injury or must have occurred otherwise that under normal circumstances.
b) That the death must have occurred within 7 years of her marriage.
c) That the woman must have been subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or his relative, soon before her death.
d) That such cruelty must have been for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry.”
● While referring to section 113B of the Evidence Act, the Court further observed that the ingredients set out in the said provision have been satisfied- the wife disappearing from her matrimonial home within a few months of her marriage, that demands for dowry being made just before her disappearance and that her death occurred in abnormal circumstances. All these factors point towards the fact that her death has to be covered under the provisions of 113B of the Evidence act and will have to be called dowry death.
● Thus, the Hon’ble SC has upheld the decision of both the Trial Court and the HC.
And now, a question for our aspirants
When was section 113B inserted in the Indian Evidence Act?
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