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DOWRY DEATHBY : MANASVI MADHU
PARIDHI GAIROLA
"And give women (on marriage) their dower
(Mahr) as a free gift; but if they, of their own
good pleasure, remit any part of it to you,
take it and enjoy it with right good cheer." (Al-
Qur'an : The Women' :4)
INTRODUCTIONDowry is a notion peculiar to the Indian Subcontinent, not being found anywhere else in the world.
While in the usual case it would be a matter of pride to study a piece of legislation unique to the Indian setup, in this particular case it brings about nothing but shame.
Dowry death, Murder-suicide and bride burning are all palpable symptoms of a peculiar social malady, wherein women have, for centuries been exploited, abused and mistreated by their husbands or their families due to their inability to meet their demands for dowry payments, most of which result purely from the greed of the husbands’ family.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVE
This project is aimed at examining the
possible interpretations of the term
“soon before death,” as provided under
Section 304B of the Indian Penal code,
pertaining to the offence of dowry death.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this project is a broad
overview of the topic at hand by
analysing a plethora of case law in this
regard. This project concentrates upon
the element of “soon before death”, and
the other essential elements required to
constitute an offence under Section
304B of the IPC have not been studied
in much detail.
ENACTMENTS TO COMBAT DOWRY:
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
• The first step taken by the legislatures against the practice of dowry was the Enactment of the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, which made the giving or taking of any dowry illegal.
• It made dowry harassment and dowry death a non-bailable offence, doing much to dampen the giving and taking of dowry by imposing fines, criminal imprisonment and even holding the husband and his family guilty for demanding or advertising for dowry.
• This is the accepted definition of dowry in Indian law, with the IPC simply referring back to the same under Section 304B, enacted via the Dowry prohibition (amendment) Act of 1986.
SECTION 304B:
PROVISIONS 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. Explanation.- For the purposes of this sub- section," dowry" shall have the same meaning as in section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961 ).
Whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life.
SURVEY OF DOWRY
DEATH A woman is killed every hour in India
because her family failed to meet her husband and in-laws' demands for higher dowry payments and lavish gifts.
There was a 74% increase in dowry-related deaths from1995 to 2007, while there was a 31% increase in the reporting of dowry-related suicides.
In 2007, the total number of dowry deaths and dowry-related suicides reported in India were 8093 and 3148, respectively.
CASE STUDIES
KANS RAJ V. STATE OF PUNJABIn this case, the victim Sunita Kumari was found dead in unnatural
circumstances, of asphyxiation at the house of her in-laws in October 1988,
three years after her marriage. The woman’s family was not informed of the
same, and came to know of it by accident when her brother came to her
house to deliver some presents, and came across preparations being made
to cremate the dead body of his sister. He immediately filed a complaint,
and investigations commenced into the same. The Trial Court convicted the
husband, his parents and his sister under Sections 304B, 306 (Abetment to
suicide) and 498A (cruelty to a woman within the marital precinct) of the
IPC and sentenced to imprisonment, along with a fine. This decision was
challenged by the accused in the High court. Similarly, the parents of the
victim also filed a revision petition in the High Court, seeking for enhanced
punishment under Section 304B, with both these aforesaid petitions being
heard together. The High Court judge acquitted the accused of all charges,
also dismissing the revision petition on procedural grounds and
inadmissibility of certain evidence.
Pawan Kumar v. State of HaryanaThe deceased died of burns only a day after she had returned from her
parents‟ house in May 1987 after a quarrel with her husband over
dowry demands. The evidence inescapably pointed towards the
conclusion that the quarrel, alongside other evidence constituted
cruelty in connection with marriage, and attracted punishment for the
husband under Section 304B. The in-laws of the deceased were let off
in the absence of any cogent evidence against them, with there
existing only general pointers indicating the same.
Rajinder Singh v. State of HaryanaThe Punjab & Haryana High Court set aside the trial court‟s decision of
convicting the husband, stating that even though the death of the wife
occurred within the mandated seven year period, it occurred almost to
years after the demands for dowry had subsided, and as such no
presumption could be raised against the accused under Section 113B
of the Evidence Act.
KESHAB CHANDRA PANDA V. STATE OF
ORISSAIn this case there did not exist enough proximity between the acts of
dowry harassment and the actual death of the woman, in order for
Section 304B to come into play. In this case, some difference cropped
up between the deceased and her husband a few months after their
marriage in 1989. The husband assaulted the deceased with an iron
rod, which led to the deceased shifting to her parents‟ house, and
efforts being made to bring about amity between the couple. Finally, the
deceased returned to her marital home in March 1991, where she
expired two days later under suspicious circumstances. Investigations
were undertaken, and the husband was charged for causing dowry
death under Section 304B. The Court, looking at the facts of the case
was of the opinion that there was no evidence of any cruelty to the
deceased by her husband or his relatives in almost two years before
her death, since she was residing with her parents during the said
period. The prior instances of assault with an iron rod were far too back
in time to be relevant to the present death, and the chain of causation
had thus been broken in this respect. As such, the „soon before death‟
clause was not satisfied, and the accused could not be charged under
the Section.
MRS. MONIKA KUMARMonika was pregnant when she hanged herself. She was the wife of
constable Mohit Kumar. She was allegedly killed by her husband and
in-laws in Etawa village. The victim’s father had lodged the complaint.
He said that the husband and in-laws were demanding for dowry since
the time of marriage which was just an year ago. The constable had
been sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment and his parents for 6
months.
MRS. SOWMYA CHANDRA
CONCLUSIONS
The „Soon before death‟ clause under S. 304B has been criticised by various NGO‟s and social reformers fighting against the menace of dowry death. It is felt that while the presumption of guilt under Section 304B can come into effect if any evidence of cruelty before the woman’s death can be proven, such evidence itself may be very hard to come by, since the IPC‟s definition of cruelty itself is quite broad and difficult to prove. Further, since in most cases, the husband and his family are the only witnesses to dowry deaths, they may often resort to hiding or tampering with evidence, further complicating the situation.
SUGGESTIONS
First and foremost we must educate the people about the laws.
Sometimes, some families until a very long time do not complain and usually the perpetrators of this heinous crime usually go scot-free. Therefore if an issue as such rises up they should take an action immediately.
Role of parents of bride too is very important out here. When one gives money in exchange of marriage , it is likely that more demand for money can come in future. Instead of bowing down to so called social practice what we need is empowerment of woman .
THANK YOU