Delhi High Court: While wondering why the wife committed suicide, R.K. Gauba, J., acquitted the husband who was convicted under Sections 304-B and 498-A IPC.
The parties were married to each-other. On basis of the evidence available on record, it could be said that the parties seemed to be living a normal or rather a happy life. A child was born to the couple and just after a few days of celebrating the first birthday of her son, the wife was found hanging in her room in their house. The elder brother of the wife accused the appellant-husband and his family of harassing the deceased for dowry. A case was registered and the husband and his family were tried for the offences under Section 304-B and Section 498-A IPC. The trial court did not find the case against the family member of the husband to be believable and therefore acquitted them. However, the husband was found guilty by the trial court and was convicted under the sections charged with. Aggrieved thereby, the husband filed the present appeal.
The High Court perused the impugned judgment and noted that “it was unfair on the part of the trial court to evidence of the same witnesses against the appellant even while the same had been rejected qua the other accused. It was stated that “the judgment was vitiated by an inherently contradictory approach”. The Court was of the view that the case of the prosecution on a version which had come after 4 days of the suicide, was quite apparently an afterthought. It was observed, while other ingredients of the offence under Section 304-B IPC are made out (the marriage being less than seven years old and the death of the married woman being for unnatural causes), credible evidence providing link as to she being subjected to ill-treatment, leave alone connection with demand or expectation of dowry, are missing”. Holding that the prosecution failed to cover the long journey from suspicion to conclusion inherent in a criminal trial, the Court set aside the trial court’s judgment and acquitted the husband. [Kirti Abrol v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2019 SCC OnLine Del 7407, dated 06-02-2019]
