'Don't Treat Your Wife Like An Animal': Supreme Court Denies Anticipatory Bail To Husband In Domestic Violence Case

While denying anticipatory bail to a man accused of domestic violence, the Supreme Court orally remarked that a husband can't treat his wife like an animal and that she deserves dignity.

A bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice PB Varale was hearing an anticipatory bail application of a man, who was denied bail by the Patna High Court for offences under Sections 126(2), 115(2), 109, 85 and 353 of the BNS.

The allegation against him is that he had abused his first wife(the complainant) in a drunken state by throwing her to the ground, where she was hit by a brick and then had assaulted her with a lathi. It is also the case that he has married two other women. The accused, however, disputes his marriage to the complainant.

The High Court, considering the submissions of the prosecution that the accused contracted three marriages and has not even given any expenses to the first wife after assaulting her, denied him bail.

When the matter was taken up, Justice Varale remarked that there is no reason why the wife is being treated like an animal. Adding to this, Justice Kumar said that the accused can't be granted bail considering the serious allegations levelled against him.

He said: "Why do you want to hit your wife, sir? Go for regular bail. You are having three wives, now this girl will also leave you if you are hitting her."

Sharing an anecdote, Justice Kumar said that as part of legal aid, they conducted a small experiment on such cases and found that every Saturday, two simultaneous cases were being filed in different police stations

"We found that in one police station, it was always the wife as a complainant. It happens every Saturday. And in another police station, it was always the husband who is the complainant. The grievance of the wife is that on Saturdays, they used to get weekly wages, so he used to drink and hit the wife. In the reverse case, it was the wife was hitting the husband, she said you drink, I have no problem, but don't touch me."

Case Details: UMESH RAY Vs THE STATE OF BIHAR|SLP(Crl) No. 8342/2026 Diary No. 26667 / 2026