TMI Blog2015 (2) TMI 1338X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat the demand for dowry should not be stale but should be the continuing cause for the death of the married woman under Section 304B. The facts of this appeal are glaring. Demands for money were made shortly after one year of the marriage. A she-buffalo was given by the father to the daughter as a peace offering. The peace offering had no effect. The daughter was ill-treated. She went back to her father and demanded money again. The father, then, went along with his brother and the Sarpanch of the village to the matrimonial home with a request that the daughter be not ill-treated on account of the demand for money. The father also assured the said persons that their money demand would be fulfilled and that they would have to wait till the crops of his field are harvested. Fifteen days before her death, Salwinder Kaur again visited her parents' house on being maltreated by her new family. Then came death by poisoning. The cross-examination of the father of Salwinder Kaur has, in no manner, shaken his evidence. On the facts, therefore, the concurrent findings recorded by both the courts below are upheld. Appeal dismissed. - Criminal Appeal No.2321 Of 2009 - - - Dated:- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r relative shall be deemed to have caused her death. Explanation.-For the purpose of this sub-section, dowry shall have the same meaning as in Section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961). (2) Whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life. 113-B. Presumption as to dowry death.-When the question is whether a person has committed the dowry death of a woman and it is shown that soon before her death such woman had been subjected by such person to cruelty or harassment for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, the Court shall presume that such person had caused the dowry death. Explanation.-For the purposes of this section, dowry death shall have the same meaning as in Section 304-B of Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860). 3. Coming back to the facts of the present appeal, a young woman, namely, Salwinder Kaur was married to the appellant Rajinder Singh sometime in the year 1990. On 31st August, 1993, within four years of the marriage, Salwinder Kaur consumed Aluminium Phosphide, which is a pesticide, as a result of which her young lif ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... urmit Kaur and Davinder Singh were also present. I requested all of them not to quarrel with my daughter on account of demand of money. I also assured the accused that I would pay them the said amount at the time of harvesting the crop. The accused insisted about the demand of money. My daughter Salwinder Kaur visited my house 15 days prior to her death. I again pacified my daughter that I would definitely pay the amount after harvesting the crop. Salwinder Kaur was not happy for not getting the money from me. She was maltreated by the accused. After the death of Salwinder Kaur, member panchayat Harbhajan Singh of V. Bathwala and Davinder Singh accused came to my house and informed that my daughter has died after consuming some poisonous substance and I was asked to accompany them for cremating the dead body. 5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties. Counsel for the appellant relied upon the cross-examination of Karnail Singh which is set out hereinbelow:- I do not know if Devinder Singh had separate portion. My daughter had come to me for the first time 5/6 months after her marriage, but she did not make any complaint to me regarding the conduct of the accused pers ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to the other but also by the parents of either party or by any other person to either party to the marriage or to any other person. It will be noticed that this clause again widens the reach of the Act insofar as those guilty of committing the offence of giving or receiving dowry is concerned. 5) Such giving or agreeing to give can be at any time. It can be at, before, or at any time after the marriage. Thus, it can be many years after a marriage is solemnised. 6) Such giving or receiving must be in connection with the marriage of the parties. Obviously, the expression in connection with would in the context of the social evil sought to be tackled by the Dowry Prohibition Act mean in relation with or relating to . 9. The ingredients of the offence under Section 304B have been stated and restated in many judgments. There are four such ingredients and they are said to be: (a) death of a woman must have been caused by any burns or bodily injury or her death must have occurred otherwise than under normal circumstances; (b) such death must have occurred within seven years of her marriage; (c) soon before her death, she must have been subjected to cruelty or haras ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rst need to determine how a statute of this kind needs to be interpreted. It is obvious that Section 304B is a stringent provision, meant to combat a social evil of alarming proportions. Can it be argued that it is a penal statute and, should, therefore, in case of ambiguity in its language, be construed strictly? 14. The answer is to be found in two path-breaking judgments of this Court. In M. Narayanan Nambiar v. State of Kerala, 1963 Supp. (2) SCR 724, a Constitution Bench of this Court was asked to construe Section 5(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947. In construing the said Act, a penal statute, Subba Rao,J. stated: The preamble indicates that the Act was passed as it was expedient to make more effective provisions for the prevention of bribery and Corruption. The long title as well as the preamble indicate that the Act was passed to put down the said social evil i.e. bribery and corruption by public servant. Bribery is form of corruption. The fact that in addition to the word Bribery the word corruption is used shows that the legislation was intended to combat also other evil in addition to bribery. The existing law i.e. Penal Code was found insufficie ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m a correct perspective. 15. In Standard Chartered Bank v. Directorate of Enforcement, (2005) 4 SCC 530 at page 547, another Constitution Bench, 40 odd years later, was faced with whether a corporate body could be prosecuted for offences for which the sentence of imprisonment is mandatory. By a majority of 3:2, the question was answered in the affirmative. Balakrishnan,J. held: 23. The counsel for the appellant contended that the penal provision in the statute is to be strictly construed. Reference was made to Tolaram Relumal v. State of Bombay [(1955) 1 SCR 158 : 1954 Cri LJ 1333] , SCR at p. 164 and Girdhari Lal Gupta v. D.H. Mehta [(1971) 3 SCC 189 : 1971 SCC (Cri) 279] . It is true that all penal statutes are to be strictly construed in the sense that the court must see that the thing charged as an offence is within the plain meaning of the words used and must not strain the words on any notion that there has been a slip that the thing is so clearly within the mischief that it must have been intended to be included and would have been included if thought of. All penal provisions like all other statutes are to be fairly construed according to the legislative intent as ex ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or solving a question of applicability of a penal statute is not ruled out by the rule of strict construction. (See State of A.P. v. Bathu Prakasa Rao [(1976) 3 SCC 301 : 1976 SCC (Cri) 395] and also G.P. Singh on Principles of Statutory Interpretation, 9th Edn., 2004, Chapter 11, Synopsis 3 at pp. 754 to 756.) 17. And Arun Kumar,J., concurring with both the aforesaid Judges, followed two earlier decisions of this Court as follows:- 49. Another three-Judge Bench of this Court in a judgment in Balram Kumawat v. Union of India [(2003) 7 SCC 628] to which I was a party, observed in the context of principles of statutory interpretation: (SCC p. 635, para 23) 23. Furthermore, even in relation to a penal statute any narrow and pedantic, literal and lexical construction may not always be given effect to. The law would have to be interpreted having regard to the subject-matter of the offence and the object of the law it seeks to achieve. The purpose of the law is not to allow the offender to sneak out of the meshes of law. Criminal jurisprudence does not say so. 50. In M.V. Javali v. Mahajan Borewell Co. [(1997) 8 SCC 72 : 1997 SCC (Cri) 1239] this Court was considering a si ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s the woman concerned to cruelty or coerce her in any manner or for any of the purposes enumerated in the relevant provisions Sections 304B/498A, whatever be the legitimacy of the marriage itself for the limited purpose of Sections 498A and 304B IPC. Such an interpretation, known and recognized as purposive construction has to come into play in a case of this nature. The absence of a definition of 'husband' to specifically include such persons who contract marriages ostensibly and cohabitate with such woman, in the purported exercise of his role and status as 'husband' is no ground to exclude them from the purview of Section 304B or 498A IPC, viewed in the context of the very object and aim of the legislations introducing those provisions. (at page 210) 20. Given that the statute with which we are dealing must be given a fair, pragmatic, and common sense interpretation so as to fulfill the object sought to be achieved by Parliament, we feel that the judgment in Appasaheb's case followed by the judgment of Kulwant Singh do not state the law correctly. We, therefore, declare that any money or property or valuable security demanded by any of the persons mention ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... #39;Soon before' is a relative term which is required to be considered under specific circumstances of each case and no straitjacket formula can be laid down by fixing any time-limit. This expression is pregnant with the idea of proximity test. The term 'soon before' is not synonymous with the term 'immediately before' and is opposite of the expression 'soon after' as used and understood in Section 114, Illustration (a) of the Evidence Act. These words would imply that the interval should not be too long between the time of making the statement and the death. It contemplates the reasonable time which, as earlier noticed, has to be understood and determined under the peculiar circumstances of each case. In relation to dowry deaths, the circumstances showing the existence of cruelty or harassment to the deceased are not restricted to a particular instance but normally refer to a course of conduct. Such conduct may be spread over a period of time. If the cruelty or harassment or demand for dowry is shown to have persisted, it shall be deemed to be 'soon before death' if any other intervening circumstance showing the non-existence of such treatment i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... SCALE 641 in which the law was stated thus: The expression soon before is a relative term as held by this Court, which is required to be considered under the specific circumstances of each case and no straight jacket formula can be laid down by fixing any time of allotment. It can be said that the term soon before is synonyms with the term immediately before . The determination of the period which can come within term soon before is left to be determined by courts depending upon the facts and circumstances of each case. (at page 646) 25. We hasten to add that this is not a correct reflection of the law. Soon before is not synonymous with immediately before . 26. The facts of this appeal are glaring. Demands for money were made shortly after one year of the marriage. A she-buffalo was given by the father to the daughter as a peace offering. The peace offering had no effect. The daughter was ill-treated. She went back to her father and demanded money again. The father, then, went along with his brother and the Sarpanch of the village to the matrimonial home with a request that the daughter be not ill-treated on account of the demand for money. The father also ass ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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