TMI Blog2009 (5) TMI 1015X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... It reads as under: Even though properly advised my husband he has not cut the illegal relationship with the said Swetha. If I talk about her, my husband beat me and tortured me. My mother-in-law also abetting him. If my husband received the salary, he gave the same with his aunt Thangam, then whenever required, at that time he get the money from her for his expenses. Even though my mother-in-law has known very well about the illegal intimacy of the husband with Swetha wantonly given married me with him. The address of the said lover Swetha is D/o. Venka Takrishnan, No. 167, Majestic Colony Valasaravakkam, Alwarthirunagar, Chennai-50, for not paying the money and jewellery my husband of my mother-in-law compelled me to get divorce and tortured me. I am tolerating all these hardships. In the deepavali of the year 2006 my husband told me that he is going to his native and left me with my parents' house. Hence my father send/issued a legal notice to my husband and my mother-in-law on 13.11.2006, then even though conciliation talks made, but the said conciliation failed on 12.1.07. My husband filed petition for divorce. Hence 1 request you to take immediate action on my complaint ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her meet such demand. 7. The aforementioned provision was inserted in the Indian Penal Code by reason of The Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act, 1983 (Act No. 45 of 1983). The statement of objects and reasons thereof reads as under: The increasing number of Dowry Deaths is a matter of serious concern. The extent of the evil has been commented upon by the Joint Committee of the Houses to examine the working of Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. Cases of cruelty by the husband and the relatives of the husband which culminate in suicide by, or murder of, the hapless woman concerned, constitute only a small fraction of the cases involving such cruelty. It is therefore proposed to amend the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act suitably to deal effectively not only with cases of Dowry Death but also cases of cruelty to married woman by their in laws. 8. The High Court opined that the word 'paramour' and the 'concubine' stand on the same footing. In arriving at the said opinion ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the said provision is committed by the persons specified therein. They have to be the 'husband' or his 'relative . Either the husband of the woman or his relative must have subjected to her to cruelty within the aforementioned provision. If the appellant had not been instigating the husband of the first informant to torture her, as has been noticed by the High Court, the husband would be committing some offence punishable under the other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and appellant may be held guilty for abetment of commission of such an offence but not an offence under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. 12. In the absence of any statutory definition, the term 'relative' must be assigned a meaning as is commonly understood. Ordinarily it would include father, mother, husband or wife, son, daughter, brother, sister, nephew or niece, grandson or grand-daughter of an individual or the spouse of any person. The meaning of the word 'relative' would depend upon the nature of the statute. It principally includes a person related by blood, marriage or adoption. The word 'relative' has been defined in P. Ramanatha Aiyar Advanced Law L ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ve term. 11. of or designating a word that introduces a subordinate clause and refers to an expressed or implied element of the principal clause: the relative pronoun who in That was the woman who called. 12. (of a musical key) having the same key signature as another key: a relative minor. 13. Furthermore, the provision is a penal one. It, thus, deserves strict construction. Ordinarily, save and except where a contextual meaning is required to be given to a statute, a penal provision is required to be construed strictly. This Court in T. Ashok Pai v. Commissioner of Income Tax, Bangalore [2007] 292 ITR 11 (SC) held as under: 19. It is now a well-settled principle of law that the more is the stringent law, more strict construction thereof would be necessary. Even when the burden is required to be discharged by an assessee, it would not be as heavy as the prosecution. [See P.N. Krishna Lal and Ors. v. Govt. of Kerala and Anr. 1994 (5) SCALE 1]. [See also Noor Aga v. State of Punjab 2008 (9) SCALE 681. 14. A Three Judge Bench of this Court, however, in Shivcharan Lal Verma and Anr. v. State of M.P. JT 2002 (2) SC 641 while interpreting Section 498A of the Indian Pena ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of this nature. The absence of a definition of husband to specifically include such persons who contract marriages ostensibly and cohabit with such woman, in the purported exercise of their 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. 16. It is not necessary to go into the controversy as to whether Reena Agarwal (supra) was correctly decided or not as we are not faced with such a situation here. We would assume that the term 'husband' would bring within its fold a person who is said to have contracted a marriage with another woman and subjected her to cruelty. 17. Herein, as noticed hereinbefore, relationship of the appellant with the husband of the first informant, is said to have been existing from before the marriage. Indisputably they lived separately. For all intent and purport the husband was also living at a separate place. The purported torture is said to have been inflicted by the husband upon the first informant either at her in-law's place or at her parents' place. There is no allegation th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rma (supra) in preference to Reena Aggarwal (supra) to hold that precedentially the former is binding on the High Court, - stating: Therefore the decision in Shivcharan Lal Verma (supra) will clearly take precedence over the decision in Reema Aggarwal (supra). That being the case, the arguments advanced by the learned Counsel for the petitioners would have to be accepted that the provisions of Section 498A IPC would not be attracted inasmuch as the marriage between Mohit Gupta and Shalini was null and void and Mohit Gupta could not be construed as a 'husband' for the purposes of Section 498A IPC. Clearly, therefore, the charge under Section 498A IPC cannot be framed and the Metropolitan Magistrate had correctly declined to frame any charges under Section 498A IPC. Similar view was taken by a learned Single Judge of the same High Court in Capt. Rajinder Tiwari v. The State (NCT of Delhi). Criminal Revision P. No. 872 of 2006 decided on 14.12.2006, stating: 9. As already indicated above, insofar as the charge under Section 498A IPC is concerned, that issue is no longer open for debate. The same has been decided by this Court in the case of Mohit Gupta and Ors. (supra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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