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To apply Section 3061 of the Penal Code, 1860, it is expected of prosecution to demonstrate that there is live link/active role played by appellant in instigating the suicide.
Madras High Court emphasised that the process of talaq requires strict adherence to established procedures. If the husband asserts that he has divorced his first wife by properly pronouncing talaq three times, but the wife disputes this, it raises the critical question of whether the marriage has been validly dissolved.
The Division Bench opined that in Section 498-A IPC cases, the courts have to be careful to identify instances of over implication and to avert the suffering of ignominy and inexpiable consequences.
It was observed that the Complaint/FIR was replete with just one theme i.e. that the appellants are threatening the respondents that they will deny them share in the property. The Complaint/FIR was intended only to further their interest in the civil dispute.
“For the act of cruelty committed, once arrest of parents of a spouse is caused on false allegations or allegations found to be false during a criminal trial, no further or strict proof of cruelty may be prescribed or applied by Courts.”
The Court declared the marriage as null and void on the grounds of mental and physical cruelty as the wife, being a minor, was not ready to perform the marital obligations
“The long period of continuous separation of a decade establishes that the matrimonial bond is beyond repair. Marriage between the parties has become a fiction, though supported by a legal tie.”
While the husband and his witnesses made statements stating that the wife had been prescribed medicines for her mental ill health, however, they did not demonstrate the nature of her illness, or the extent of affliction suffered by her.
“There was sufficient evidence to prove the ground of cruelty pleaded by the husband for grant of a decree of divorce”
“A Hindu marriage is a sacrament and not just a social contract where one partner abandons the other without reason or just cause or existing or valid circumstance necessitating that conduct, the sacrament loses its soul and spirit, though it may continue to hold its external form and body.”
“For the attraction of Section 498-A, cruelty shall be inflicted upon the wife either by the husband or a relative of the husband; a paramour in extra-marital affair is not a relative of the husband.”
The complainant was pitted against the might of petitioners, i.e., husband, father-in-law, and three sisters-in-law, who were abusing and ill-treating her on petty issues and their sole aim was to extort money from her and her parents.
“Marriage should be a union based on mutual respect, love, and understanding. When one spouse seeks freedom from a relationship that has become a source of distress, denying this request only perpetuates suffering and contradicts the very essence of a marital bond”
“There are a lot of other deprecating, fundamentalist, superstitious and ultra-conservative practices prevalent in the society that are clothed in the name of faith and belief.”
“The embittered relationship between the husband and wife has not witnessed any moment of peace for the last more than a decade or more, and it is a marital relationship only on paper. The fact is that this relationship has broken down irretrievably long back.”
The Court stated that as per the amended definition of rape, any sexual intercourse or act, by the husband with his wife not below the age of fifteen years is not a rape, therefore, consent is immaterial.
Shariat law permits Muslim to contract more than one marriage, but it must be borne in mind that merely because an act was lawful, it did not per se become justifiable in married life. Contracting a second marriage by a Muslim may be lawful, but it causes enormous cruelty to the first wife.
“A marriage is not an event for ‘song and dance’ and ‘wining and dining’ or an occasion to demand and exchange dowry and gifts by undue pressure leading to possible initiation of criminal proceedings thereafter. A marriage is not a commercial transaction.”
To attract the charge of Section 306 of the Penal Code, the prosecution must establish incitement, instigation, aiding, or abetment to commit suicide.
“The essence of gender-neutrality must permeate through every line of a judgment, and a judge must cultivate thoughts that are inherently gender-neutral.”