Avoid Casual Approach In Dowry Death Cases: Chief Justice To Trial Courts

Trial courts must be careful not to implicate relatives of accused who may have had no role in a dowry death case, Chief Justice NV Ramana said.

Chief Justice NV Ramana today lamented the persistence of dowry harassment and deaths despite years of laws against them. He cautioned trial courts against taking a casual approach in such cases and also sought care to not implicate innocent relatives who may have had no role in the crime. India's Parliament enacted the Dowry Prohibition Act way back in 1961 as a first step to eradicate the practice. Further, various laws were amended to tighten the screw on it. "However, the issue of dowry harassment is still prevalent. Additionally, there was a growing trend of deaths of young brides in suspicious circumstances following demands of dowry," the Chief Justice said today in a judgment he wrote together for Justice Aniruddha Bose in a case from Haryana. The Chief Justice pointed at a report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime which said that dowry deaths in India in 2018 alone accounted for up to 50 per cent of such fatalities for the period 1999-2016.