Not allowing daughter-in-law to watch TV not cruelty, court rules

The court said the charges did not include physical and mental cruelty.

New Delhi:

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court quashed the conviction of a man and his family over allegations that they did not allow his wife to watch television, go to temple, meet neighbors and let her sleep on the carpet.

A single-judge bench of Justice Abhay S. Waghwase said the above actions against the woman, who is now dead, would not be as ‘serious’ under the offense of cruelty under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. Live law reported. The court said the charges would not include physical and mental cruelty as they related to the suspect’s domestic affairs.

The court also rejected the claim of the woman’s relatives that she had to go and fetch water at midnight, after the man’s family stated that water supply started in their village at that time and all households went to fetch water at 1:30 a.m. .

The man and his family had previously been convicted by a court in a case in which abuse had prompted the woman to commit suicide on May 1, 2002. and witnesses met. They (mother, uncle and aunt of the deceased) have admitted that there was no written or oral communication from the deceased There is evidence to show that there was any demand, cruelty or abuse at that relevant point or in the vicinity of the suicide who linked them to the suicide. What caused the suicide has remained a mystery,” the Supreme Court said.