Sections 304B and 498A, IPC - cruelty and harassment.

JUDGMENT

A.K. Patnaik J.:-This is an appeal against the judgment dated 7th April, 2006 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Jabalpur Bench in Criminal Appeal No. 1225 of 2004 by which the High Court has maintained the judgment of the XIIIth Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Jabalpur in Sessions Trial No. 671 of 2003 convicting the appellants under Sections 304B and 498A of the Indian Penal Code.

2. On 12th February, 2007, this Court dismissed the petition for special leave to appeal qua petitions Nos. 1 and 3 and issued notice confined to appellant nos. 2 and 4 and on 18th October, 2007, this Court had also granted bail to the said two appellants. Hence this appeal is confined to the appeal of appellant Nos. 2 and 4.

3. The facts very briefly are that Madhuri got married to appellant No. 1 at Jabalpur on 10th June, 2003 and she came to the house of her parents on 5th August, 2003. In the house of her parents, she committed suicide by hanging to the ceiling on 17th August, 2003. The father of the deceased lodged a report with the Police on 17th August, 2003, saying that he had brought his daughter to the house on 5th August, 2003 and she was not sent back to her in- laws' house on account of the illness of his wife and she committed suicide. The Police investigated the case and filed a charge sheet against the appellants under Section 304B and 498A of the Indian Penal Code. The trial court convicted the appellants and the High Court has maintained the conviction.

4. We have heard learned counsel for the appellants and learned counsel for the State at length and we find that the trial court has held on the basis of the evidence led by the prosecution witnesses that appellant Nos. 2 and 4 along with appellant No.1 demanded colour TV, `50,000/- in cash and a Hero Honda Motor Cycle towards dowry at the time of marriage and just after one day of the marriage did not supply proper meal even to the deceased and, accordingly, held that this was an act of cruelty towards the newly married bride and the appellant Nos. 2 and 4 along with the appellant Nos. 1 and 3 were jointly and directly liable under Sections 304B and 498A IPC.

5. In the appeal before the High Court, it was contented on behalf of appellant nos. 2 and 4 that they were living separately and as such no act of cruelty or harassment towards the deceased could be attributed to them. The High Court, however, held that the deceased who was a newly wedded girl would certainly be in a mental agony when her parents were making efforts to call appellant Nos. 2 and 4 along with the other appellants to come and settle the dispute with regard to the dowry and yet the appellants refused to go and settle the matter merely on the ground that they were from the groom's side. The High Court further held that such conduct of the appellant Nos. 2 and 4 would certainly be an act of cruelty and would also result in mental distress to a newly married girl who was married just two months before committing suicide. The High Court was of the opinion that appellant Nos. 2 and 4 in keeping silence and in not coming to the rescue of the deceased committed cruelty even though they had not caused any physical cruelty to the deceased and were liable for the offences under Section 498A and 304B of the Indian Penal Code.

6. We are unable to agree with this opinion of the High Court that by keeping silence and by not coming forward to settle the dispute with regard to the dowry, the appellant Nos. 2 and 4 were are guilty of the offences under Sections 498A and 304B of the IPC. In the facts of this case, as found both by the trial court and by the High Court, the deceased got married to the appellant No. 1 on 10th June, 2003 and she went back to the house of the appellants on 5th August, 2003 and committed suicide on 17th August, 2003 while she was in the house of her parents. True, there may have been a demand of dowry by the appellants at the time of marriage and it is quite possible that the