Court Decision: Not Allowing the Bride to Watch TV Is Not Cruelty

The court stated that the allegations would not involve physical or mental cruelty.

New Delhi:

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court quashed the conviction of a man and his family on allegations that they did not allow his wife to watch television, go to the temple, meet her neighbors and sleep on the carpet.

The single judge bench of Justice Abhay S Waghwase said that the above-mentioned acts against the now dead woman would not amount to “grave” under the offense of cruelty under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. Live Law reported. The court stated that since the allegations were related to the defendant’s internal affairs, they would not constitute physical and mental cruelty.

The court also rejected the claim that the woman was forced to fetch water in the middle of the night. The man’s family stated that water supply in their village started at that time and all households went to get water at 1.30 in the morning.

The man and his family were previously convicted by the trial court based on a case alleging that ill-treatment led the woman to die by suicide on May 1, 2002. and the eyewitnesses interviewed each other (the deceased’s mother, uncle and aunt) stated that there was no written or verbal communication from the deceased, and that there was no cruelty close to suicide. evidence to show that “Whether there was any point or proximity to suicide, whether there was any demand, cruelty or ill-treatment to be associated with suicidal death still remains a mystery,” the high court said.