Indian court says 'no presumption' that suicide committed by married woman is due to harassment by husband

More than eight years after a husband was charged with causing dowry death, a courthas acquitted him, saying only the fact of the woman's unnatural death within seven years of marriage was not sufficient to prove the charges.

It observed that there is no presumption that every suicide committed by a married woman was because of harassment by her husband or in-laws and that suicides were committed by people for various reasons.

Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Pahuja was hearing a case against Swatantra Kumar Jaysawal, who was accused of driving her wife to commit suicide.

According to the prosecution, deceased Jyoti married Jaysawal in July 2010 and after being harassed by the accused for dowry, she committed suicide by hanging in October 2015.

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Referring to a 2010 verdict of the Supreme Court, the judge said, "There is no presumption that every suicide committed by a married woman in her in-laws' house or at her parents' house has to be because she was suffering harassment at the hands of her husband or her in-laws. Suicides are committed by living human beings for various reasons, some are not able to bear the normal stresses which are common in life." Noting the evidence before it, the court said that it was not convinced about the truthfulness of the charges, nor was the prosecution able to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The factum of unnatural death in the matrimonial home and that too within seven years of marriage is thus ipso facto not sufficient to bring home the charge under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 304B (cruelty) and 498A (dowry death) against him," the court said in its judgment passed on August 9.

Noting "discrepancies and contradictions" in the testimonies of the deceased's parents, the court said that they failed to substantiate the prosecution's case.

It said, "Bare perusal of the suicide note shows that the deceased ended her life out of her own will and it is categorically stated that nobody is responsible for her act... The document contradicts and demolishes the allegations of harassment or cruelty made against the accused for meeting the demand of dowry." It said the deceased did not make any complaint against her husband to anyone during her lifetime.

"In view of the material inconsistencies in the testimony of the prosecution witnesses and due to lack of cogent evidence lead on the record, this court is of the view that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and the evidence coming on record entitles the accused to the benefit of doubt," the judge said, acquitting the husband.

Malviya Nagar police station had registered a case against the accused.

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