No Rigid Time Limit In Dowry Death Cases: Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has held that in dowry death cases, no rigid timeframe could be applied under the provisions of Section 304 B of the Indian Penal Code for the purpose of determining cruelty. A Bench of Justice L.S. Panta and Justice Aftab Alam said: “The words ‘soon before her death’ occurring in Section 304 B of the IPC are to be understood in a relative and flexible sense. Those words cannot be construed as laying down a rigid period of time to be mechanically applied in each case. Whether or not the cruelty or harassment meted out to the victim for or in connection with the demand of dowry was soon before her death and the proximate cause of her death, under abnormal circumstances, would depend upon the facts of each case. There can be no fixed period of time in this regard.” Section 304 B says: “Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called “dowry death” and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death.” In the instant case, the appellants, Deen Dayal, his wife Sukhrani and son Amar Singh were tried for killing Asha Devi, wife of Amar Singh, for not fulfilling the dowry demand, 15 months after the marriage. The trial court acquitted them. On appeal, the Allahabad High Court reversed the order and sentenced them to a 10-year jail term. The present appeal by the three is directed against this judgment. The appellants said there was absolutely no evidence that any demand for dowry was made just prior to her death on September 6, 1998, or that the said demand and the alleged cruelty or harassment meted out to her in connection with it were the proximate cause of her death. Writing the judgment, Justice Alam said: “From the evidence on record we find it fully established that only after 15 months of her marriage and while she was living with the appellants, Asha Devi died under circumstances that were not only far from normal but also plainly indicated homicide. The evidence on record fully establishes that there was a persistent demand of dowry by the appellants and they subjected Asha Devi to cruelty and harassment in connection with the demand and eventually beat her to death due to its non-fulfilment.” Dismissing the appeal, the Bench said: “We are satisfied that all the ingredients of Section 304 B of the IPC are fully satisfied and on the evidence on record no other view is possible but to hold that the three appellants are guilty of committing dowry death.”

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