HC dismisses husband’s bail plea in wife’s dowry death case says allegations serious

PTI, Jun 10, 2024, 5:32 PM IST

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant bail to a man, accused in a case of dowry death of his wife, saying the allegations against him are serious in nature and showing any leniency in such cases may send an inappropriate signal to the society at large.
The high court said the allegations in the case point out that even in this era, married women are being humiliated, abused and beaten by their husbands and in-laws for want of non-fulfilment of their desire for being provided with money or dowry.
“Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the gravity of the allegations and the fact that showing leniency in such cases may send an inappropriate signal to society at large, this court is not inclined to grant bail where a woman has lost her life prima facie due to torture meted out to her due to non-fulfilment of demand of money and dowry by the applicant and his family members,” Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said.
“In the above terms, the present petition stands dismissed,” Justice Sharma said.
The woman was brought dead to the hospital in October 2021 with an alleged history of hanging at home. During the investigation, her parents submitted that their daughter had been harassed for dowry by her husband and his family members.
The family claimed that since the husband of the deceased was having an extramarital affair with another woman and had also married her, their daughter was under a lot of mental trauma.
They claimed that the man and his family were pressuring her to bring money to run their business and when she refused, they would beat her.
It was alleged that due to such mental and physical harassment, the victim had committed suicide.
A case was registered at the Kanjhawala police station here for the alleged offences of cruelly treating a married woman by her husband and his family members and dowry death under the Indian Penal Code.
The man sought bail contending that he was falsely implicated in the case and there was no material on record which corroborates the allegations.
He claimed that no demand of any kind of dowry was made on his behalf or his family before or during the subsistence of the marriage.
The high court, while denying bail to accused Tilak, said the case was full of such instances which prima facie point out how the woman, even in the present modern times, was being pressured to bring more money to run her husband’s business since the beginning of their marital life.
“There are instances of the applicant (Tilak) repeatedly beating the deceased in front of her family and also taking her (to her) parental home at 12 O’clock in the night and creating a ruckus in her brother’s marriage and thus humiliating them socially and publicly, which is of unexplainable trauma and torture not only to the deceased who would have carried this burden of guilt that because of her, her family was being ill-treated, abused and publicly shamed,” the high court said, adding that the allegations in the case are serious in nature.
It said this case also disclosed how despite being continuously beaten up by her husband and in-laws, after mediation and settlement efforts, the victim was sent back to her matrimonial home hoping for things to improve as generally happens in the country.
This prima facie showed the hope of the deceased and her family members that the man may change his behaviour and their daughter would be happy, it said.