The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court overturned a 20-year-old conviction against a man and his family for alleged cruelty towards his late wife. The court found that accusations of taunting her, not letting her watch TV, forbidding her from visiting the temple alone, and making her sleep on a carpet did not amount to “severe” actions under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The High Court noted that the allegations, largely centred on domestic issues, did not rise to the level of physical or mental cruelty.
In its ruling, the court acquitted the man, his parents, and his brother, who had been convicted by a lower court under IPC Sections 498A and 306 for cruelty and abetment to suicide. This decision followed their appeal against the trial court’s conviction, Live Law reported.
In an October 17 order, Justice Abhay S Waghwase, presiding over a single-judge bench, detailed the main allegations against the appellants. These included taunting the dead over meals she prepared, restricting her television access, forbidding her from visiting neighbours or going to the temple alone, making her sleep on a carpet, and requiring her to throw out garbage on her own.
Family members of the dead also alleged that she was forced to fetch water at midnight.
The court, however, pointed out that witness testimonies revealed that in Varangaon, the village where the dead and her in-laws lived, water was usually supplied around midnight, and it was customary for all households to collect water at around 1:30 am.
