Making daughter-in-law sleep on carpet, banning television and not cruelty: Bombay High Court

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court quashed a two-decade-old conviction against a man and his family for alleged cruelty to his late wife. The court ruled that allegations of provoking her, not allowing her to watch TV, forbidding her from visiting the temple alone and making her sleep on a carpet did not amount to ‘serious’ actions under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Supreme Court noted that the charges, which focused largely on domestic issues, did not rise to the level of physical or mental cruelty.

In its ruling, the court acquitted the man, his parents and his brother, who were convicted by a lower court under IPC sections 498A and 306 of cruelty and abetment to suicide. This decision followed their appeal against the court’s conviction, Live the law reported.

In an order dated October 17, Justice Abhay S. Waghwase, presiding over a single judge, laid out the main allegations against the appellants. These included harassing the dead for the meals she prepared, restricting her television access, forbidding her to visit neighbors or go to the temple alone, making her sleep on a carpet and demanding that she herself threw away waste.

Relatives of the dead also claimed that she had to fetch water at midnight.

However, the court pointed out that witness statements showed that in Varangaon, the village where the deceased and her in-laws lived, water was usually supplied around midnight, and it was common for all households to fetch water around 1:30 am. .