The Calcutta High Court, recently in a 4-year long dispute of Ranjan Das vs. State of West Bengal held that the bickering between husband and wife daily would not amount to cruelty under section 498(A).
Therefore, Jalpaiguri Bench under Justice Sugato Majumdar acquitted the man for his punishment, charged for mental and physical cruelty towards wife under section for 498A of IPC, which was given to him by the Trial Court.
The High Court, however, upheld his charges under section 323 of IPC for voluntarily causing hurt and sentenced a fine of ₹1000.
As per the facts of the case, wife alleged her husband and his mother for demand of dowry, physical and mental torture and attempt to murder.
The Trial Court held that the husband is liable with simple imprisonment for 6 months under section 498(A) and ₹1000 fine for voluntarily causing hurt under section 323 of IPC.
But the High Court pointed out that the wife failed to prove any instances of torture or harassment and even wife’s medical report just showed some simple injuries like bite marks. The judge held that even wife’s brother, in his statement, refused any demand of dowry and only mentioned assault to her after husband’s liquor consumption.
So the High Court quashed the husband’s conviction only to the extent where he was sentenced under section 498(A) .
The case further justified the scope of cruelty under section 498(A) of IPC. The court held that :-
“Cruelty contemplated in Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code is different from day to day bickering between the husband and wife. Sweeping and general allegations cannot be relied upon to conclude that offence under Section 498A has been perpetrated “.
Case : Ranjan Das vs. State of West Bengal
Written By : Vidhi Mahajan, a BALLB Student from Guru Nanak Dev University , Amritsar and a Legal Intern Under Legal Vidhiya.
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