Dowry Death
Dowry Death Is the death of the woman caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within 7 years of her marriage. Essential Ingredients Section 304 B of IPC gives essential ingredients of dowry death Death must be caused by burns or bodily injury or it must occur otherwise than in normal circumstances Death must occur within 7 years of marriage It must be shown that soon before her death the woman was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband. Such cruelty or harassment by her husband must be for or in connection with any demand for dowry. Here the dowry shall have the meaning as assigned to it under Section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961. Another feature of this section, which can be said to be a departure from the normal feature of the code is that a minimum of not less than 7 years imprisonment is prescribed but which may extend to imprisonment for life. What is dowry death? In Bachni Devi V. State Of Haryana, the accused 2 and Bachni Devi were married on 12/5/1990. In less than 3 months of their marriage her mother-in-law had gone to the house of PW 8 Father of the deceased and told him that his son wanted to start a house milk vending business and for that purpose demanded a motorcycle. But the father of the deceased, being a poor rikshawala showed his inability to fulfil her demand. Thereafter both the deceased ‘s husband A 2 and her mother-in-law, Bachni Devi badly harassed her and said that the deceased was not allowed to stay in the matrimonial home. kanta told her father about the ill-treatment of her husband. kanta was taken from her father’s house by her husband on the pretext that the engagement ceremony of her brother was to be performed which was false. The next her father was informed that Kanta was dead, therefore harassment driving the deceased to commit suicide is a dowry death, and the accused were liable to be convicted under Section 304 b I.P.C. for Dowry Death. Life Imprisonment Reduced To 10 Years Of Rigorous Imprisonment Pathan V. Hussain Basha V. State Of A. P. It is a case relating to dowry death. The evidence of the father of the deceased and other witnesses shows that there was persistent demand for dowry by the accused husband of the deceased and her in-laws. They used to harass and even beat the deceased. The deceased died due to asphyxia as a result of hanging. Death took place within a few months of marriage. The accused led to no evidence explaining how and why the deceased died and his conduct immediately prior to and after the death of the deceased. It was held that the silence of the accused cannot be equated to the discharge of onus cast upon the accused by deeming fiction under section 113 b of the Evidence Act. Hence the accused was liable to be convicted. It was further held that considering the age of the accused, attending circumstances, and the fact that the accused had been in jail for a considerable period sentence of life imprisonment was reduced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. Reasons For Dowry Death Illiteracy rate Absence of proper law For the sake of social status Lack of knowledge Narcotic Gender discrimination Forms Of Cruelty Cruelty by vexatious litigation Cruelty by deprivation and wasteful habits Cruelty by persistent demand Cruelty by extramarital affair Harassment by nonacceptance of baby girl Cruelty by false attacks on Chasity Taking away children CONCLUSION Dowry is a sin in our society, it’s not a ritual anymore, it’s a burden to girls’ parents that’s why girls are murdered in the mother’s womb after marriage girls are forced and pressured by in-laws and husbands, because of all that dowry death took place. We should have more strong legal binding to the accused so that this can be stopped right now and more dowry deaths would not happen. Written By Muskan Patel