After two courts in Gujarat convicted three persons in an alleged dowry death, the Supreme Court acquitted the trio on discovery of the victim’s dying letter being fake.

The letter, written three months prior to the victim Anitha’s death on May 18, 2004, had formed the basis to convict the victim’s husband and in-laws both by the trial court and Gujarat High Court.

Deciding their appeal, the apex court found out that the letter used ‘masculine’ words, highly improbable to be used by a female. “We find that at many places the author of the letter has used words in “puling” (masculine) instead of ‘striling’ (feminine), which raises doubts as to whether the letter has been written by a woman or by a man,” said a bench of Justices AK Patnaik and SJ Mukhopadhaya.

The date of the letter corresponded to the period when the victim was with her parents and brother in Chaksiriya village in Bihar, miles from her matrimonial home in Ahmedabad. The letter was the only evidence used by the prosecution to charge the in-laws and husband with graver charges of IPC Section 304B (dowry death), punishable with life term, and IPC Section 498A (dowry harassment).

Finding no other evidence except the letter to bring home the guilt against the accused, the court was cautious not to rely on a letter containing such a grave error. “Since there are grave doubts as to whether the letter was actually written by the deceased or not, conviction of the appellants only on the basis of the said letter…is unsafe.”

The victim claimed to have been pressurised for bringing dowry such as table, chair, sofa set, bed, scooter, and colour TV since her marriage in 2002. Anitha poured kerosene on her body and died due to deep burns. Her brother complained to the police and produced the copy of his sister’s letter complaining of dowry harassment.

The court doubted the complaint to be an afterthought. A letter of April 25, 2004 written by the brother to the victim was evidence to the effect that all was well at her matrimonial home. He even spoke to the victim on phone only to be assured that she lived happily and was not misbehaved.

In conclusion, the bench held that in dowry death cases, prosecution is required to produce evidence of cruelty or harassment and not mere demand of dowry.