A court in Maharashtra’s Thane has acquitted a man and his parents, accused of dowry harassment and abetting the suicide of his 21-year-old wife in 2018, observing that “normal wear and tear of matrimonial life" does not amount to cruelty.
Additional Sessions Judge Pankaj A Patki ruled that the prosecution failed to establish specific instances of cruelty or a direct link between the actions of the accused and the woman’s decision to end her life. The deceased, Nisha, a nurse, married Anil Rangnath Gaikwad (31) in December 2016, and resided in Thane with him and his parents, Sojar (56) and Rangnath Gaikwad (71).
On May 14, 2018, Nisha hung herself at home, following which the Vartak Nagar police registered a case under Sections 498-A (cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
Nisha’s relatives alleged she faced physical and mental harassment over household work, demands for a gold chain and restrictions on her clothes, claiming the Gaikwad family insisted she wear sarees instead of dresses. Highlighting the lack of specific evidence and contradictions among the prosecution’s witnesses, Judge Patki observed, “Mere normal wear and tear of matrimonial life, ordinary domestic discord or trivial quarrels do not amount to cruelty unless the conduct satisfies said statutory ingredients." The court noted that the couple lived on a separate floor from the in-laws and that the husband supported Nisha’s nursing career by driving her to work.
Defence counsel argued Nisha became upset and died by suicide because they could not attend a relative’s wedding in Nashik due to the unavailability of a vehicle. The court said, “Such incidents do normally happen in any family. It was not the case that she was the only one who was restrained from attending the ceremony. Even the accused had not attended the marriage of their relatives. Such incidents in the normal course can at the most be a reason for family discord or petty resentment, but not sufficient to prove unmistakably that it amounts to abetment to take the most extreme step of committing suicide."