Supreme Court Added Murder Charge in Case of Dowry Death

Supreme Court on 22nd November 2010 made it mandatory for trial courts across the country to add murder charge under section 302of IPC (Indian Penal Code) to the charge of section 304 B of IPC against the accused in dowry death cases. After the Supreme Court order, death sentence could be given to accused in dowry killings against women. Supreme Court directed that the copy of the order to be sent to registrar generals of all high courts for further circulation to all trial courts.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Markandey Katju gave the ruling. The Supreme Court bench advocated harsh punishment for those who murder women for dowry and ruled that cases of dowry killings should be treated as rarest of rare cases which calls for death punishment for the offenders.

The Supreme Court bench observed that the respect shown to women is the hallmark of any healthy society and the rate at which dowry killing cases are coming before the court, it shows the barbaric nature of the Indian society.

Under the existing provision, dowry death is registered under section 304B IPC resulting into a maximum punishment of life imprisonment and minimum seven years. After the Supreme Court order, a person accused of dowry killing would get either life imprisonment or capital punishment.
Supreme Court order came regarding a case where Rajbir alias Raju had been convicted under Section 304B of IPC for killing his wife Sunita for dowry. The Punjab and Haryana high court had reduced his sentence to 10-year rigorous imprisonment.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiled the data for 2008 which showed that there were 8,172 dowry deaths in India but only 33.4% of the cases ended into conviction.

Section 304B of the Indian penal code states that when the death of a woman takes place within seven years of her marriage and caused by any burns or bodily injury other than normal circumstances and before her death she was harassed by her husband or any of his relatives for dowry or in connection with dowry, in that scenario such deaths shall be called dowry death and the woman’s husband and his relatives shall be deemed to have caused her death.