The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and life sentence awarded to a man accused of murdering his wife and staging the crime as a suicide by hanging her body.
The Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan dismissed the husband’s appeal against the Gauhati High Court judgment, which had affirmed his conviction for murder and cruelty towards his wife.
The Court held that the medical evidence conclusively proved that the case involved homicidal or simulated hanging and not suicide. It noted that the husband was present in the matrimonial home at the time of the incident and had failed to provide any credible explanation regarding the injuries suffered by his wife or the circumstances of her death.
The Bench also expressed concern over the repeated attempts by the victim’s family to reconcile the marriage despite her complaints of dowry-related harassment.
The Court raised critical questions regarding whether the victim’s life could have been spared or if societal pressures left her completely vulnerable to abuse. Observing that these queries remained strictly hypothetical, the Bench highlighted the facts of the case, stating that the deceased was subjected to severe dowry-related torture almost immediately after her marriage.
Characterising the case as an eye-opener, the Bench observed that the victim’s relatives had harboured an unrealistic expectation that her circumstances would improve. The Court stated that the family was consumed by a false sense of optimism, which was ultimately shattered by her tragic death at her matrimonial home. The Bench concluded with the hope that the narrative of her life would serve as a cautionary lesson for society.
The case stemmed from the death of Soma Acharjee on June 16, 2007, around 15 months after her marriage. According to the FIR lodged by her father, she was subjected to continuous dowry-related harassment and torture. The FIR invoked Sections 498A (cruelty by husband or relatives), 304B (dowry death) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860.
In 2009, the trial court convicted the husband, mother-in-law and brother-in-law, while acquitting the father-in-law. The Gauhati High Court later acquitted the mother-in-law and brother-in-law but upheld the husband’s conviction and life sentence.
Before the Supreme Court, the husband argued that the death was a case of suicide. Rejecting the contention, the Court held that once the prosecution established that the death occurred inside the matrimonial home and medical evidence ruled out suicide, the burden shifted to the husband to explain the circumstances surrounding the death.
According to the judgment, the husband made no real effort to explain how his wife sustained her injuries. While he claimed she committed suicide, the Court noted that his defence was completely disproven by a mountain of medical evidence. It further noted that the husband was absconding and directed the Director General of Police, Tripura, to immediately constitute a team to apprehend him.
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