“Taunting Over Complexion Not Cruelty” – Bombay HC

• Bombay High Court acquitted a man in a 27-year-old suicide abetment case.
• The court ruled that taunting over dark complexion or cooking is not cruelty under IPC 498A.
• The prosecution failed to link alleged harassment directly to the wife’s suicide.

GG News Bureau
Mumbai, 27th July: The Bombay High Court on Friday overturned a 27-year-old case, acquitting a man accused of abetting his wife’s suicide. The Court remarked that taunting a woman about her dark complexion or criticizing her cooking does not fall under the purview of cruelty as defined by Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code.

The ruling was delivered by a single bench of Justice S. M. Modak on an appeal filed by the accused, Sadashiv Rupanwar. Sadashiv had been convicted in 1998 by a Sessions Court for abetment to suicide and cruelty following the death of his 22-year-old wife, Prema. Prema had gone missing from her marital home in January 1998, five years after her marriage, and her body was later found in a well. Based on a complaint from Prema’s family, police had registered a case against Sadashiv and his father. While the lower court acquitted the father-in-law, Sadashiv, then 23, was found guilty and sentenced to five years.

Justice Modak observed that the prosecution’s allegations against the husband were limited to taunting his wife about her dark complexion and threatening a second marriage. The father-in-law was only accused of criticizing her cooking. The Court stated that such incidents could be considered “normal quarrels arising from marital life” or “domestic disputes,” and were not severe enough to compel Prema to commit suicide.

The High Court explicitly stated that the prosecution completely failed to establish a direct link between the alleged harassment and the wife’s suicide. Justice Modak remarked that while some form of harassment might have occurred, it was “not the kind of harassment on the basis of which criminal law can be applied.”

The Court also criticized the lower court, stating that the learned judge had erred in understanding the fundamental principles and elements of the sections related to cruelty and abetment. With these observations, the High Court acquitted Sadashiv Rupanwar of all charges, thereby quashing his sentence.