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The high court said that prosecution witnesses had admitted that, in Varangaon, it was a usual practice to turn off the water supply at such hours, and that others in the village also fetched water during the night
The Bombay High Court has recently observed that taunting a wife, not allowing her to watch TV, not allowing her to go alone to the temple, making her fetch water at 1:30 AM, and disliking meals cannot be constituted as an offence of cruelty under Section 498A of the IPC.
A single-judge bench of the high court at Aurangabad, comprising Justice Abhay Waghase, was hearing an appeal against the order of conviction of a family. The husband and his family were convicted under Section 498A of the IPC.
The husband and wife got married in December 2001, and just two months after the marriage, the wife committed suicide. It was alleged that the wife was subjected to cruelty and harassment, due to which she committed suicide.
The Sessions Court convicted the family of cruelty under Section 498A and Section 306 of the IPC, against which they filed an appeal.
It was also alleged that the family made her fetch water after bathing at night, around 1:00 to 2:00 a.m. Furthermore, she was not allowed to watch TV and was made to sleep on the carpet. Additionally, the complaint stated that she was taunted about the quality of meals prepared and was made to do domestic work despite suffering from typhoid.
The bench in its order noted that “In the light of above settled legal position, in the considered opinion of this court, above reproduced allegations would not constitute offence of 498A IPC. Humiliation in what form, is not clarified. Merely sleeping on carpet also would not amount to cruelty. Similarly, what sort of taunting was made and by which accused is not getting clear. Likewise, preventing her to mix with neighbour also cannot be termed as harassment,” the order reads.
The high court said that prosecution witnesses had admitted that, in Varangaon, it was a usual practice to turn off the water supply at such hours, and that others in the village also fetched water during the night.
The bench found that the order passed by the Sessions Court was erroneous. Accordingly, the bench proceeded to quash the conviction.
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