The Jalpaiguri bench of the Calcutta High Court recently ruled that the act of bickering between a married couple regularly would not fall under the ambit of cruelty as defined under Section 498A of the Indian Penal (IPC).
Single-judge Justice Sugato Majumdar, therefore, quashed the conviction under Section 498A of IPC of a man charged for subjecting his wife to physical as well as mental cruelty.
It, however, upheld his conviction and sentence of a fine of Rs 1,000 under Section 323 of the IPC.
The Court held, “Cruelty contemplated in Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code is different from day to day bickering between the husband and wife. Sweeping and general allegations cannot be relied upon to conclude that offence under Section 498A has been perpetrated.”
The trial court erred in reaching the conclusion that the appellant’s husband is guilty of an offence under section 498A, the Court further concluded.
The Single-Judge bench held, “There are latches on the part of the Trial Court in appreciation of evidence. Therefore, conviction under Section 498-A is liable to be quashed.”
According to the prosecution case, the appellant’s wife lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against him as well as his mother on May 31, 2016 with allegations of demanding dowry, and torturing her, and attempting to murder her.
The wife alleged that her husband with her in-laws demanded Rs 50,000 in the form of dowry from her and on her failure to provide them the said amount from her parents, she was subjected to mental and physical torture. She further made a serious allegation that her husband also tried to kill her near a railway station but two passersby saved her.
A sessions court in Cooch Behar’s Tufanganj found the appellant guilty under Section 498A due to torturing his wife mentally and physically under Section 323.
Justice Majumdar noted that the prosecution failed to highlight any specific instance of torture, or harassment. The judge said that even the wife’s elder brother said in his testimony that her husband used to assault her only after taking liquor and didn’t point out any kind demand of dowry or money on the part of the appellant.
The bench further noted, “Although the complainant wife stated that she was about to be killed, the two eye witnesses who rescued her did not corroborate her statement. The appellant was not at that spot, according to them. The wife was medically examined twice and both the medical reports show simple injuries like bite marks.”
Subsequently, the bench quashed the conviction order to the extent the trial court convicted the appellant under Section 498A.
It, however, maintained his conviction and sentence under Section 323 of the IPC.
Advocate Hillol Saha Podder represented the Appellant while Advocate Aditi Shankar Chakraborty and Saurav Ganguly appeared for the State.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/daily-bickering-between-husband-wife-not-cruelty-section-498a-ipc-calcutta-high-court