Dev Prasad and Others vs State of U.P. and Others

M. Katju, J.—Heard learned Counsel for the Petitioner and learned Government counsel.

The offence of dowry death u/s 304B, Indian Penal Code was only introduced in the Statute Book in the year 1986. Before 1986, dowry death cases were very rare. Now the position has totally changed. Everyday several cases relating to dowry deaths are coming before us, which shows that this is a social phenomenon which has spread like cancer and is making our society barbaric.

In our country, when a young girl comes after her marriage to her sasural, she comes into a new environment where everyone is a stranger to her. She leaves behind all her relations and friends in her maika and comes to her husband''s house bewildered, diffident and apprehensive. At that time, she needs a lot of love and affection from her-in-laws because she is beginning a new life. However, what is often happening in our society is that the moment a young girl comes to her sasural, her harassment begins by her-in-laws who start demanding more and more dowry and inflict all types of atrocities on her for this purpose. The girl''s father out of love for his daughter has to succumb to these demands, but even then, very often the girl is killed. The reason for this is that very often, the husband or the father of the husband kills the girl so that the boy may be married again to some other girl and the same process may begin again. This barbaric attitude is only due to the lust for money, which has spread all over our society.

Hundreds and thousands of young girls are being killed in this manner, and this can be seen from the large number of F.I.R. u/s 304B, Indian Penal Code which are filed all over the country.

No amount of persuasion will pursuade stone-hearted people to give up this horrible and barbaric practice, and only harsh and deterrent measures can achieve this. Now the time has come when, there should be a large number of death sentences in such cases and that alone can create the deterrence for this.

We are surprised that while an ordinary murder can be punished by a death sentence u/s 302, Indian Penal Code, a dowry death, which is a much worse offence, has a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. An ordinary murder is committed in a fit of rage or for a property, but a dowry death is not just an ordinary crime, it is a social crime. It outrages the modern conscience, it makes the whole of society revert to feudal barbarism. Hence, we recommend to Parliament to amend the law and provide for death sentence in dowry death cases.

When a woman is given respect by her husband and in-laws, the child of such a woman when he grows up will become a fighter against injustice as from childhood he sees that his mother was given respect by his father who was physically the stronger person. Hence, he sees justice done in his own home. But when a woman is oppressed, her child sees injustice, and hence when he grows up, he will become a coward or a bully because he will think that injustice is the normal way of life. When a large number of women are treated like this, the whole of society becomes mentally sick. This is why this barbaric practice must be ruthlessly stamped out, by imposing harsh punishment.

Very often in such cases, even a post-mortem is not done as in the present case. This is evidently to destroy all evidence in the case. The time has now come when this Court will not tolerate these practices any more and will adopt very tough measures. In the present case, the impugned F.I.R. dated 6.4.2002, states that the first informant''s sister Sia Dulari aged about 23 years was married to one Chandra Shekhar on 16.5.1999. She was harassed for dowry and ultimately killed on 6.4.2002 and her body was burnt.

This is not a fit case for interference under Article 226 of the Constitution. The petition is therefore, dismissed.

However, the bail application of the Petitioners will be decided by the Court concerned expeditiously. It is made clear that any observations made in this judgment will not influence the trial court.

Let a copy of this order be sent by the Registrar General of this Court to the Union Law Secretary, New Delhi and the Chairman, Law Commission of India, New Delhi and the Law Secretary, U. P.