The Calcutta High Court’s Port Blair circuit bench set aside the discharge of a woman’s in-laws in a dowry harassment case, stressing that society still struggles with gender equality. The woman had died by suicide in 2021 after killing her infant daughter.
KOLKATA: Setting aside the discharge of the in-laws of a woman who died by suicide after killing her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, the Calcutta High Court’s Port Blair circuit bench emphasized that society still has a significant distance to cover in achieving full equality for girl children.
The Port Blair sessions court had previously discharged the woman’s in-laws, who were accused of torturing her and demanding dowry from her parents, particularly after the birth of her daughter. In 2021, she took her own life after harming her child.
The high court ordered the parents-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law of the deceased to surrender to the trial court within four weeks.
In a judgment made in response to an appeal by the prosecution, Justice Apurba Sinha Ray expressed,
“Although we are happy and indeed rejoicing that our daughters have won the World Cup in Cricket recently, and they are also making remarkable achievements in different fields, sectors etc., the passing away of Rudrika at the age of one and half years reminds us that still we have to go a long way to achieve complete equality for our girl children.”
Justice Ray referenced the well-known proverb quoted in Justice Krishna Iyer’s essays,
“No society is free until the last damsel in distress is free.”
The judge highlighted that testimonies from witnesses indicated that the deceased woman had reportedly faced both mental and physical abuse. Bhawna, the woman in question, died by suicide by hanging after strangling her daughter in Port Blair while her husband was at work on July 8, 2021.
Also Read: Section 498A and Dowry Act Misuse: Supreme Court Warns Wife For Filling False FIR
The high court noted that the sessions judge had ruled there was sufficient evidence to frame charges only against the husband under sections 498 and 304 of the Indian Penal Code.
By reversing the discharge of the four in-laws, Justice Ray remarked that it appeared the sessions judge failed to take into account crucial witness statements from the relatives of the deceased. The court directed the sessions judge to detain the in-laws and release them on bail if they agree to provide bail bonds as required by law.
Justice Ray instructed,
“Thereafter, he shall take proper steps for framing charges against the accused persons under proper sections of law,”
The state’s counsel brought to the high court’s attention testimonies indicating incriminating evidence against all the discharged accused. He claimed that the deceased had endured both physical and mental cruelty, which led her to take drastic actions after harming her baby.
The state’s lawyer stated that the couple, married in 2018, had been living in Port Blair due to the husband’s job. Allegations were made that the in-laws consistently demanded additional dowry, and after the birth of a daughter, the harassment intensified, including demands for Rs 20 lakh from her parents, suggesting discontent due to the lack of a male heir.
In defense of the four in-laws, their lawyer contended that most witness statements pertained to the husband and not to them. He also asserted that there were no dowry demands from the in-laws prior to the incident and that they were not present in Port Blair at the time of the marital discord.