'Cruelty' & 'Abetment To Suicide' Independent Offences; Accused Being Guilty Of Former Doesn't Imply He's Automatically Guilty Of Latter: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday held that merely because an accused is found guilty under Section 498A of the IPC (cruelty), does not imply that he must also be held guilty of abetting his wife's suicide under Section 306 IPC. Justice A. Badharudeen emphasised that Sections 498A (cruelty) and 306 IPC (abetment to suicide) are independent and constitute different offences."Merely because an accused has been held liable to be punished under Section 498A IPC, it does not follow that on the same evidence he must also and necessarily be held guilty of having abetted the commission of suicide by the woman concerned."The Court was adjudicating upon an appeal moved by the husband and mother-in-law of a deceased woman, challenging their conviction under Sections 304(B) (dowry death), 306 (abetment of suicide) r/w 34 of IPC by the Sessions Court. The prosecution case was that 35 sovereigns of gold were given to the deceased at the time of marriage between the couple. A sum of Rs.2.5 lakhs was also promised to be paid as dowry within 2 years. It was alleged that during her stay at the matrimonial house, the deceased was subjected to consistent nagging and demand for dowry by her husband and mother-in-law. According to the prosecution, this eventually drove her to suicide within a year of their marriage. The husband and mother-in-law were soon booked and questioned, after which they were given an opportunity to adduce evidence but no defence evidence was adduced. Accordingly, the Sessions Court convicted them and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment. Challenging this conviction and the sentence, the accused moved the High Court. Advocates Sasthamangalam S. Ajithkumar, Prabhu Vijayakumar and Renjith B. Marar appearing for the appellants argued that the trial court convicted the appellants without the support of sufficient evidence. However, Public Prosecutor Maya M.N vehemently supported the conviction and sentence citing that the prosecution had successfully established the commission of offences under Sections 304B and 306 of IPC. Upon appreciating the evidence in the case, the Court examined the essentials required to constitute an offence of dowry death under Section 304B. The Judge relied on several decisions to lay down the four essentials required to prove the offence of dowry death: (i) death of a woman should have occurred otherwise than under normal circumstances(ii) within 7 years of her marriage;(iii) soon before her death she should have been subjected to cruelty or harassment by the accused, and(iv) in connection with any demand for dowry to presume that the accused has committed dowry death.It was found that the prosecution evidence categorically established all these ingredients against the husband and hence, the burden was on him to disprove the same as per Section 113B of the Indian Evidence Act. However, no convincing evidence was forthcoming to rebut the presumption.Coming to Section 306 IPC, the crucial question to be decided was whether the deceased was subjected to cruelty soon before the occurrence. It was found that the prosecution evidence clearly established that the wife committed suicide within a year of marriage and soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty and harassment by her husband and she committed suicide in consequence thereof. Therefore, the Judge held upheld the husband's conviction under Section 304B and 306 of IPC. However, the Court found that the evidence did not suggest cruelty and harassment on the part of the mother-in-law in a satisfactory manner. Therefore, finding that the prosecution failed to establish that the mother-in-law committed the offences under Section 304B and 306 of IPC by convincing evidence, the conviction and sentence imposed against her were set aside.Regarding the sentence imposed on the husband, the Judge found that the Sessions Court imposed rigorous imprisonment for 3 years under Section 306 of I.P.C, without imposing any fine, which was illegal. "The said procedure adopted by the learned Sessions Judge is illegal. It is to be borne in mind that when the statute imposes imprisonment and fine, the same shall be read in `conjunctive' and not `disjunctive'. Therefore, both forms of punishment shall be imposed." Since there is no statutory minimum sentence for the offence under Section 306, the Court reduced the sentence for a period of 2 years and imposed a fine of Rs.20,000.As such, the appeal was allowed in part. Case Title: Ajayakumar & Anr. v. State of Kerala Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 405Click Here To Read/Download The Order

'Cruelty' & 'Abetment To Suicide' Independent Offences; Accused Being Guilty Of Former Doesn't Imply He's Automatically Guilty Of Latter: Kerala High Court

Hannah M Varghese

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