Husband cannot be prosecuted if “hypersensitive” wife ends life

[LightYears]

Husband cannot be prosecuted if “hypersensitive” wife ends life: HC

MADURAI, October 8, 2014

A person who scolds and beats his wife for not performing household work on time could not be prosecuted for the offence of abetment of suicide if the woman takes the extreme step “because of her hypersensitiveness,” the Madras High Court has said.

Justice M. Venugopal made the observation on a criminal appeal filed by K. Obuliraj of Salem district challenging his conviction under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code and three years rigorous imprisonment imposed by a Mahila Court in June 2009.

The judge set aside the conviction and the sentence, and directed the trial court to repay the fine amount of Rs.5,000 paid by the appellant. “The act of scolding, by no stretch of imagination, could be termed to be an instigation (to commit suicide), in the opinion of this court,” he said.

“To put it succinctly… there should be a direct proof or evidence or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide. Moreover, the mere fact that the appellant scolded the deceased wife with regard to non-cleaning of the house and thereby treated her cruelly is not enough,” he added.

Mr. Justice Venugopal also said a Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) had enquired into the death of the appellant’s wife to find out if it was due to dowry demand since she had hanged herself, leaving behind a nine-month-old baby girl, within two years of her marriage.

However, the enquiry report was “clearly in favour of the appellant and it clearly mentioned that the deceased had not died due to dowry harassment… There was also no evidence that she was subjected to cruelty by her husband as defined under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code,” he pointed out.

The only reason stated by the prosecution for her suicide was alleged ill-treatment by the appellant who reportedly scolded the woman and also beat her, hours before she committed suicide, for stating that she would sweep the house only after completing her tailoring work.

Therefore, the conviction of the appellant on the charge of having abetted his wife to commit suicide “is clearly unsustainable merely on the allegation of harassment,” the judge observed.