The Supreme Court ruled that a gold demand made during the post-childbirth ‘Chhoochhak’ ceremony cannot be treated as dowry under Section 304B IPC. The Court overturned the husband’s dowry-death conviction while upholding his conviction for cruelty.
A 52-year-old man died by suicide in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal after his wife filed a dowry harassment case against him after 30 years of marriage. When the man was in hospital, his wife approached the police and filed another complaint against him, claiming that he attempted suicide to pressure her into withdrawing the case, a police officer said.