Making husbands “obvious” culprits in dowry death cases, the Supreme Court in a recent judgment has held that the onus rests on husband more than other relatives as he is “primarily” responsible for his wife’s safety and is also conversant with her state of mind.
The judgment has come as a huge blow to several husbands facing prosecution in cases of dowry deaths punishable under IPC Section 304B with a minimum of seven years imprisonment up to life term.
Dealing with the role of husband vis-à-vis other relatives, a Bench headed by Justice TS Thakur said, “The requirement of allegations of demand of dowry against the relatives of the husband may have to be more specific and the court may be more cautious in dealing with such allegations, if there is any doubt about over implication, but responsibility of the husband may be obvious from the circumstances.”
The court was dealing with an appeal filed by one Naresh Kumar who challenged the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to convict him for his wife’s murder while acquitting his mother and brother on the same charge. The incident occurred on May 1, 2001 less than a year after Kumar had married Rekha Rani.
Agreeing with the HC ruling, the apex court said, “Responsibility of the husband towards his wife is qualitatively different and higher as against his other relatives.” The Bench, also comprising Justices Adarsh Goel and R Banumathi, was of the view that “If the wife commits suicide by setting herself on fire, proceeded by dissatisfaction of the husband and his family from dowry, the interference of harassment against the husband may be patent.”
This was so because "husband is not only primarily responsible for safety of his wife, he is expected to be conversant with her state of mind more than any other relative." In the present case, the wife had died within 10 months of marriage. She had complained twice about dowry demands to her parents. Once, she returned to her home and returned to her matrimonial home only on being persuaded by her husband.
Noting the unfortunate fact that dowry deaths still exist in the country, the Bench said, “When a young married girl finds herself in a helpless situation and decides to end her life, it is natural to infer that she was unhappy in her matrimonial home.”