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Section 304B and 498A of the IPC
Typology: Assignments
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This is to certify that this project titled “Case Analysis: Pathan Hussain Basha v. State of Andhra Pradesh”, has been prepared and submitted. Signature of the Student: ............................ Signature of the Research Spectator: ......................
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a comprehensive study and to pen this research project. Without her constant guidance, the completion of this project work would have been a difficult task.
The name of the case is Pathan Hussain Basha v. State of Andhra Pradesh, Criminal Appeal No. 1706 and 1712 of 2009.
The size of the bench is Division Bench, comprising of two judges.
The presiding Coram in this case comprises of Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla.
The opinion was delivered by Justice Swatanter Kumar.
Advocate Param Kumar Mishra for Advocate Kumul Lata Das represented the Appellants in this case.
Advocate D. Mahesh Babu represented the Respondents in this case.
A. The respondent, Pathan Hussain Basha got married to Pathan Haseena Begum (who is now deceased) in 2002 in Guntur. The marriage between the two was an arranged marriage and during the same, a dowry was promised to the respondent. B. In the dowry, a sum of Rs. 25,000 was demanded by the respondents and alongside that, other formalities were to be completed. However, due to some reasons, the father of the deceased could only pay a sum of Rs. 15,000 and assured that the rest of the amount will
A. Was the prosecution successful in their appeal to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt? B. Are all the accused in the case guilty or is any of them to be set aside and be acquitted? C. Is there a requirement to turnaround any judgment passed by the lower courts?
Nature of the issues raised is a question fact and not a question of law.
There were no arguments presented before the Supreme Court, per se, and the Court majorly relied on the text of the judgment of the High Court and the Trial Court at Guntur. Pursuant to
the judgment put forth in the case of Pathan Hussain Basha & Others v. The State rep. by Public Prosecutor High Court of A.P,^1 the contentions laid down by both the parties were factual in nature and were based on witness evidence.
A. The Appellants in this case, who are the accused, took a position in the High Court that after the marriage was completed between the accused husband and the deceased, there was a demand by the latter for a separate residence and it was pleaded that no dowry was demanded whatsoever by the accused. B. The learned counsel supported their contention with the help of the case of Paidimarri Shanker and Others v. State of A.P.,^2 wherein a division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court noted that when the evidence pertaining to the dowry is fabricated and released after the death of the bride and there is no mention of the same former to the death, the case would not necessarily fall into the offenses stated under Section 498-A and 304-B of the IPC. C. On the same grounds, the appellants submitted that there is no material whatsoever to show that the demand that was made prior to the death of the deceased is a doubt in contention. The appellants went on to describe the phrase “soon before death” as was analyzed in the case of Hira Lal and Ors v. State^3 wherein the phrase was used to imply that the expression “soon before” should imply that the time phrase between the demand made pursuant to the dowry and the death of the deceased should not be significant. There must, in all cases, exist a proximal and live link between the effect made by the demand of the dowry and the consequent death in question. Similarly, in the present case, there is a significant amount of time adduced and the demand in any case would not be responsible for the death of the bride. (^1) Pathan Hussain Basha & Others v. The State rep. by Public Prosecutor High Court of A.P, LQ 2006 HC 7016 (^2) Paidimarri Shanker and Others v. State of A.P., 2004(1) ALT(Cri) 201. (^3) Hira Lal and Ors v. State (Govt. of NCT) Delhi, A.I.R. 2003 SC 2865.
The Prosecution must prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.
Basing its reasoning, the court firstly took into account the principle of natural justice and in pursuance with Article 20 of the Indian Constitution, the court stated that an accused cannot be held guilty unless proven and in the Indian criminal jurisprudence, the concept of deeming fiction cannot be applicable. However, this notion has not been uniformly followed and in prior to Section 304-B, the concept of deeming fiction has been applied various times by the legislature. When the ingredients of Section 304-B are in satisfaction and proved by a party, husbands and the accused relatives would be held to have caused death of the wife in that case. By the virtue of the concept of deeming fiction, the onus is on the accused and even silence in the matter does not discharge onus from the accused. The accused has to explain the conduct that he maintained as well as his family maintained prior to and subsequent to the death of the bride. Since the accused failed to fulfil the aforementioned requirement, the court saw no reason to interfere with the prior judgments under appeal. The High Court vide its judgment acquitted the father of the accused, stating that there was no evidence against him. The State did not challenge the basis of this judgment either, and therefore, the Supreme Court is not called upon to rule on this matter. The Court reiterated that the accused have been rightly found guilty (the husband and the mother of law of the deceased) and by the virtue of standings positioned by the Trial Court as well as the High Court, the Court saw no reason as to why those findings should be reversed. The Court, while noting some considerable points raised by the appellants such as the evidence presented by the prosecution, witness statements and age of the people accused in the current case. Furthermore, noting the fact that the accused have already spent a considerable period of time in sentence, the Court took a lenient position and reduced the sentence from a lifetime imprisonment to a rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years.
relatives-in-law. The court, in this case realized whether the gifts that were granted during the marriage accounted to dowry or not. The court noted that customary gifts given during the marriage, or even the birth of a child, are gifts that everyone in the society gives regardless of their obligations and are customary gifts given in the society. These do not account to dowry. (ii) Relevance to the present case In the present case, the question arose whether the gifts given by the parents of the deceased accounted to dowry or not. However, contrary to the aforementioned case, the gifts were demanded by the family and were not given on a voluntary and customary basis and the gifts therefore do not amount to dowry.
(i) Facts and Relevant Portion of the Judgment In this case, ornaments and articles were given from the bride’s family to her family in law. These included jewelries and other such articles. After a certain point of time, disputes between the couples arose and consequently, the bride was forced out of her marital house. After such incident, the wife demanded the ornaments and articles back from her family in law and upon such request, there was a denial of the aforesaid by the matrimonial house. Based on this, the maternal family of the bride filed a case against the matrimonial home of the aggrieved. In the given case, a contention arose as to what constituted as dowry. While the apex found the accused guilty contrary to the judgment of the High Court, in the given case, the court concluded with the analysis that articles such as refrigerators, furniture as well as electric appliances to the family of the bride accounts to dowry. Similar grounds were ascertained by the court in State of A.P. v. Raj Gopal Asawa,^8 wherein it was noted that even the subsequent demands raised after the marriage account to dowry. (ii) Relevance to the present case In the current case, the questions arose whether the ornaments and the articles gifted to the marital family of the deceased accounted to dowry or not. The Court ruled its finding in pursuance the findings of the aforementioned case and noted that the demands fulfilled at the (^7) Madhu Sudan Malhotra v. Kishore Chand Bhandari, A.I.R. 1988 SCC 424. (^8) State of Andhra Pradesh v. Raj Gopal Asawa, A.I.R. 2004 SC 1933.
time of the marriage and also, the demands raised subsequent to the completion of marriage accounted to dowry.
9 (i) Facts and Relevant Portion of the Judgment In this case, the deceased got married to the accused (whose case was transferred to the juvenile court as he was found to be a juvenile). The death of the deceased in this particular case was not from natural circumstances but however, and with that, eight other relatives and the villagers were charged under the IPC for the death of the deceased. The appellants were found guilty by the Sessions Judge in Morena and the High Court dismissed their appeal. With the precluding circumstances, they approached the Supreme Court. The case delved into the considerable time period of the marriage and the death of the deceased as the incident occurred four years after the marriage was completed. The court noted that the time may vary with the facts of the case and there must be a link between the dowry and the harassment suffered. (ii) Relevance to the present case In the present case, there was a considerable period of time between the date of the marriage and the death of the deceased, which exceeded more than a year. The Court drew its analogy from the aforementioned case that the time of the death varies with the facts of the case and established that there was indeed a time bound nexus between the death and the harassment suffered, holding the appellant guilty of the offense.
Pursuant to Article 304B of the Indian Penal Code, “(1) Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or (^9) Yashoda and ors v. State of Madhya Pradesh, A.I.R. 2005 SC 1411.
As per Section 498A of the IPC, “Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine”. A very important aspect that comes into play while assessing the nature of this provision is the understanding of the word “cruelty”. Cruelty is a very wide term and the commission of the same may involve multiple facets. The adverse effects caused on the mental health of one person in the parental home pursuant to the acts committed therein may be classified as cruelty and would be applicable under the provisions of Section 498A.^14 The Court has, in instances, noted that ill- treatment for demanding dowry is indeed an act under the ambit of Section 498-A.^15 In the present case, the court has analyzed the provisions of Section 498A in pursuance with the provisions of Section 304B and established a nexus that there was ill-treatment of the deceased due to the inadequate demand fulfillment of dowry (even asked subsequent to the marriage), and therefore, a case arises against the accused.
This book is a complete collection of a thorough study of all the parts of the Indian Penal Code. The book, together with reference to relevant case laws, provided an evaluation of all the provisions with an absolute explanation. The book was used here for the purpose of understanding and understanding the IPC's Sections 304B and 498A. (^14) Rupali Devi v. State of Uttar Pradesh, LNIND 2019 SC 331. (^15) Adarsh Prakash v. Sarita, AIR 1987 Del 203. (^16) Ratanlal and Dhirajlal, The Indian Penal Code (34th (^) ed., 2018).
The book referred again to several case laws for the purpose of describing section 304B, and also used concepts such as the proximate test and the explanation of the phrase 'soon before her death'. With the use of the fundamental ingredients of the section, the book has substantially explained the section. It gives a basic definition and comprehension of the crime of cruelty in regard to section 498A; the book provides descriptions of who may be a relative and is a marriage bond required for the purpose of taking advantage of the remedies under this clause. It also lists the recommendations that were made by the law commission, in a brief manner.
17 With a comprehensive review of all the types of crimes assimilated in the Statute, this book explored all facets of criminal law extensively. On the one side, this book retains the essence of the decades-old tradition of providing outstanding illustrative insights to all those engaged in the field of criminal law and on the other hand, covers seminal judgments that revolve around evolving developments in the region, in addition to the reforms proposed by the Law Commission and other bodies. In this book, in an academic context, the crimes are presented with legal meanings that illustrate the interrelationship between the academic framework and the legislative framework. This book has substantially explained Section 304B by not only providing brief informative information of the aforementioned section but has also analyzed in depth the intricacies of the same and the interpretation of the section that the court has sought over the years. It is evident that with the evolution of time, the Court has recognized the fact that dowry death should indeed be taken seriously and has put forth the idea of justice in its recent judgments. For Section 498A of the IPC, the book has explained this section in detail by first are foremost, explaining what cruelty means and how it can be equated to dowry deaths. The interpretative analysis that can be sought from the book is that when the court lacks evidence beyond reasonable doubt, the court has in times assumed cruelty by the virtue of deeming fiction and furthermore, strikes a balance between the golden rule of “innocent and until proven guilty” and (^17) PSA Pillai, Criminal Law, (13th (^) ed., 2017)
