‘Made her life a curse’: Jharkhand High Court upholds man’s conviction for wife’s suicide

“The overall aspects of the case clearly disclose that the main reason for commission of suicide by the deceased is the conduct of the husband alone, who used to demand money for consumption of liquor and sold her jewellery to fulfill his bad habit and also assaulting her physically day by day making her life a curse,” the August 12 order read.

‘Assaulted by drunk husband, relatives’

The woman’s father claimed that he got his daughter married in February 1997 and had given her household articles and ornaments at the time of the wedding. The couple later had a daughter. However, the father claimed that his son-in-law allegedly sold the woman’s ornaments to fund his bad habits like drinking and gambling.

It was further alleged that, due to non-payment of further money, the husband and his relatives used to torture his daughter physically and mentally and it was also reported to villagers, but they prevented him from taking any action. The father claimed that on the night of October 10, 1998, at about 11 pm, he was informed that his daughter had died by falling into a well.

Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava noted that the overall aspects of the case showed that the husband’s conduct alone had driven the woman to take her life.

One of the man’s two relatives, who were named as accused in the case, died in August 2012 during the pendency of the case, due to which his appeal stands abated.

‘No torture for dowry’

The accused, including the woman’s husband, were represented by advocate Alok Anand, who submitted that there was no case of torture due to non-fulfilment of dowry under Section 498A (domestic violence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) because there was no demand for dowry. He said the woman had died after falling into the well.

It was further submitted that the trial court committed serious illegality in holding the accused persons guilty for the offence under sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 498A of the IPC by considering the evidence of only close relatives and failing to note that independent witnesses did not support the prosecution’s case.

On the contrary, Assistant Public Prosecutor Tarun Kumar submitted that the trial court very wisely considered all the evidence and rightly convicted the accused. It was added that the trial court committed no illegality or infirmity in passing the conviction order, and the appeal deserved to be dismissed.

Driven to kill herself: HC

The high court pointed out that, in the natural course of human behaviour as reflected in society, particularly, women are very sensitive to the consumption of liquor by their husbands.

“The frequent consumption of liquor and day-to-day physical assault meted out to a woman must naturally drive a woman to commit suicide unless such woman might be strong enough, having her own source of income and capable of leading her life independently,” it added.

The high court noted that the woman died due to drowning, while noting that the victim’s father claimed that he saw her dead body lying beside the well and that her hands were tied. It was also found that the husband used to consume liquor and frequently assaulted his wife by raising demands of money as well as selling all her jewellery.

Finding that it is not the case that the accused persons had thrown her into the well but the victim had killed herself, the court found that there is no specific evidence or allegation against the other remaining accused showing any act amounting to cruelty against the woman.

Accordingly, the court allowed the appeal of the accused relative but upheld the conviction of the woman’s husband for cruelty and her death.

The court directed the husband to surrender before the trial court within two months and undergo the remaining period of sentence awarded to him by the trial court.