<p>In an important judgement, the Supreme Court on Friday said judges, prosecution and defence must be careful in conducting trials in dowry death cases saying that though menace is increasing, sometimes family members of the husband are roped in without any active role in the offence.</p>.<p>A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Aniruddha Bose said Section 304-B (dowry death) of the IPC must be interpreted keeping in mind the legislative intent to curb the social evil of bride burning and dowry demand.</p>.<p>The prosecution must at first establish existence of necessary ingredients for the offence, only then Section 113-B, Evidence Act (presumption against the accused) operates, the court said.</p>.<p>Laying down detailed guidelines, the court said, it is a matter of grave concern that, often trial courts record the statement under Section 313, Criminal Procedure Code in a very casual and cursory manner, without specifically questioning the accused as to his defense.</p>.<p>"The court must put incriminating circumstances before the accused and seek his response. A duty is also cast on the counsel of the accused to prepare his defense since the inception of the trial with due caution, keeping in consideration the peculiarities of Section 304-B, IPC read with Section 113-B, Evidence Act," the bench said.</p>.<p>The court noted the social evil of dowry death persisted even today. It pointed out a study titled “Global study on Homicide: Gender-related killing of women and girls”, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, highlighted that in 2018, female dowry deaths account for 40 to 50 per cent of all female homicides recorded annually in India. The dismal truth is that from the period 1999 to 2016, these figures have remained constant. In fact, data furnished by the National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in 2019 itself, 7,115 cases were registered under Section 304-B, IPC alone, it said.</p>.<p>The top court upheld the conviction and sentence of seven years imposed against Satbir Singh and another person of Haryana for the death of his wife who died due to burn injuries on July 31, 1995, just after one year of the marriage.</p>.<p>"The accused persons failed to place any evidence on record to prove that the death was accidental or unconnected with the accused persons," the court said.</p>.<p>It, however, set aside their conviction and sentence for abetment of suicide, saying there was no evidence on record to support the charge.</p>
<p>In an important judgement, the Supreme Court on Friday said judges, prosecution and defence must be careful in conducting trials in dowry death cases saying that though menace is increasing, sometimes family members of the husband are roped in without any active role in the offence.</p>.<p>A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Aniruddha Bose said Section 304-B (dowry death) of the IPC must be interpreted keeping in mind the legislative intent to curb the social evil of bride burning and dowry demand.</p>.<p>The prosecution must at first establish existence of necessary ingredients for the offence, only then Section 113-B, Evidence Act (presumption against the accused) operates, the court said.</p>.<p>Laying down detailed guidelines, the court said, it is a matter of grave concern that, often trial courts record the statement under Section 313, Criminal Procedure Code in a very casual and cursory manner, without specifically questioning the accused as to his defense.</p>.<p>"The court must put incriminating circumstances before the accused and seek his response. A duty is also cast on the counsel of the accused to prepare his defense since the inception of the trial with due caution, keeping in consideration the peculiarities of Section 304-B, IPC read with Section 113-B, Evidence Act," the bench said.</p>.<p>The court noted the social evil of dowry death persisted even today. It pointed out a study titled “Global study on Homicide: Gender-related killing of women and girls”, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, highlighted that in 2018, female dowry deaths account for 40 to 50 per cent of all female homicides recorded annually in India. The dismal truth is that from the period 1999 to 2016, these figures have remained constant. In fact, data furnished by the National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in 2019 itself, 7,115 cases were registered under Section 304-B, IPC alone, it said.</p>.<p>The top court upheld the conviction and sentence of seven years imposed against Satbir Singh and another person of Haryana for the death of his wife who died due to burn injuries on July 31, 1995, just after one year of the marriage.</p>.<p>"The accused persons failed to place any evidence on record to prove that the death was accidental or unconnected with the accused persons," the court said.</p>.<p>It, however, set aside their conviction and sentence for abetment of suicide, saying there was no evidence on record to support the charge.</p>
