Mere unnatural death of wife in matrimonial home within 7 years of marriage not enough to convict husband for dowry death: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the mere fact that a wife died under unnatural circumstances in her matrimonial home within seven years of marriage will not by itself be sufficient to convict the husband for dowry death [Charan Singh @ Charanjit Singh v. State of Uttarakhand]..A Division Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Rajesh Bindal held,"Mere death of the deceased being unnatural in the matrimonial home within seven years of marriage will not be sufficient to convict the accused under Section 304B and 498A IPC."The Court, therefore, acquitted a man who was convicted under Sections 304B (dowry death), 498A (cruelty by husband or relatives) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the death of his wife within two years of marriage..The Court was hearing the husband's appeal against a decision of the Uttarakhand High Court which had upheld the trial court's conviction..The wife died two years into the marriage while she was residing in her matrimonial home. On June 24, 1995, the father of deceased registered a complaint against the husband of deceased and the in-laws for the murder of his daughter.The first information report (FIR) filed in this regard stated that the deceased was killed on account of non-fulfilment of her in-laws' demands of a motorbike and land as dowry.The father of the deceased also stated that a day before her death, she was beaten up and subsequently strangulated to death by her husband and in-laws. It was further alleged that the accused had cremated the dead body of the deceased without informing her parents.The trial court convicted the husband, brother-in-law and mother-in-law of the deceased for the aforesaid offences. However, on appeal, the High Court acquitted the brother-in-law and mother-in-law, and upheld the conviction of the husband alone. Further, the sentence of rigorous imprisonment of ten years awarded to the appellant husband under Section 304B IPC, was reduced to seven years.The husband challenged this verdict before the apex court..The Court noted that since the conviction of the appellant-husband was under Sections 304B and 498A IPC, there exists a presumption under Section 113B of the Indian Evidence Act 1872, regarding dowry death of the deceased within seven years of marriage.In this regard, the Court noted that for an offence of dowry death, the deceased has to be subjected to cruelty or harassment soon before the death. However, while analysing the statement of the father of the deceased, the Court noted that apart from instances of dowry demands in the initial months of marriage, there was nothing in the statement to show that any such demand was raised immediately before her death.Additionally, the Court observed,"None of the witnesses stated about the cruelty or harassment to the deceased by the appellant or any of his family members on account of demand of dowry soon before the death or otherwise. Rather harassment has not been narrated by anyone. It is only certain oral averments regarding demand of motorcycle and land which is also much prior to the incident.".Therefore, the Court was of the view that evidence led by the prosecution does not fulfil the pre-requisites to invoke the presumption under Section 304B IPC or Section 113-B of Indian Evidence Act 1872. More so, since there is no evidence of cruelty, the conviction under Section 498-A cannot be sustained.Accordingly, the Court has acquitted the appellant-husband..Advocate Shubhranshu Padhi assisted the Court as amicus curiae..[Read Judgment]