DOWRY DEATH: Role of Family Members of Husband In a case of a dowry death, every member of the family may not be fully and equally guilty. The degree of involvement may differ —as an associate, as a silent witness, as a conniving witness and so on. While family members may be staying together, it does not lead to any positive conclusion that each one of them was actively involved in demanding additional dowry and also behaving in a cruel or humiliating manner towards a woman resulting in her consuming poison to end her life. In cases of this nature which attract a reverse onus of proof, the least that is expected of the prosecution to bring home a charge under section 304B of the Indian Penal Code is to adduce some evidence to suggestively implicate a relative both in the demands for additional dowry and harassment or cruelty. The mere fact that all the members of the husbands family were living together would not alter the factual situation. A dowry death will not ipso facto suck the husband with all his relatives into the net of section 304B of the Indian Penal Code. There is a possibility of members of the family having vaying roles, active and passive. Depending on the nature and extent of involvement, a person may be punished for an offence under section 498A or section 304B or section 306 of the Indian Penal Code or section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act. Bhola Ram v. State of Punjab , Crl. App. No. 1022 of 2008; Decided on 11-11-2013 (SC) [Ranjana Prakash Desai and Madan B. Lokur, JJ.]
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 07:23:57 +0000
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