Team Blitz India
PATNA: The Patna High Court has held that a husband calling his wife bhoot (ghost) or pisach (vampire) does not tantamount to cruelty.
In matrimonial relation, especially in failed matrimonial relations there are incidents where both the husband and wife abused each other saying filthy language. However, all such accusations do not come within the veil of ‘cruelty’”, a single-judge Bench has held.
Justice Bibek Chaudhuri made these observations while setting aside a conviction under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code.
Dowry harassment case
The court was considering a petition submitted by Sahdeo Gupta and his son Naresh Kumar Gupta, both residents of Bokaro, Jharkhand, in a dowry harassment case.
In 2008, the father-son duo was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment under Section 498A IPC and six months of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000 under Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act by the Chief Judicial Magistrate.
Their appeal to the Additional Sessions Court was turned down 10 years later, after which the aggrieved petitioners moved to the High Court. Meanwhile, in between all of this, the Jharkhand High Court granted the couple a divorce.
In the HC, the father-son duo contended that the trial court failed to identify particular allegations against them and that their conviction was based on an omnibus allegation.
The lawyer representing the woman contended that the petitioners used to call the woman bhoot and pishach. The lawyer further argued that calling a lady bhoot and pishach by her inlaws in the twenty-first century was “a form of immense cruelty.”
The Patna HC, however, observed that it was “not in a position to accept such an argument”.
