[Section 498A] No Indian lady is ready to share her husband at any cost: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court recently dismissed a plea filed by the husband and family members of a woman who had died by suicide shortly after lodging a complaint claiming cruelty on their part [Sushil Kumar v. State of UP]..Justice Rahul Chaturvedi took note of the fact that the deceased informant found out that her husband was already married, and was also going to marry a third time. It was found that the cumulative effect of these factors led her to commit suicide.“No Indian lady is ready to share her husband at any cost. They are literally possessive about their husband. It would be biggest jolt for any married woman that her husband is being shared by some other lady or he is going to marry some other lady,” he observed.Further, the Court noted that in such an awkward situation, it would be impossible to expect any sanity from the wife..The husband and his relatives had filed a revision application before the High Court after a trial court rejected their discharge application. They were accused of cruelty, abetment of suicide, theft, voluntarily causing hurt, bigamy, insult and criminal intimidation.A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged after the deceased filed a complaint with vivid details of the atrocities allegedly committed on the part of her husband and his family members.She stated that they got married in 2010 and had a baby boy, who was two years old. This was the husband’s second marriage, without divorcing his first wife, and now, he was going to marry a third time..The revisionists highlighted various loopholes in the investigation, time taken to register the FIR, the post-mortem report and other documents as grounds for their plea.However, the Court said that it would not be proper to comment on these alleged inconsistencies, as it was not supposed to hold a mini trial at the stage of deciding a discharge application. In fact, the Court said that it only needed to be satisfied that the accusations were not frivolous and that there was some material for proceeding further with the case.“It would be hazardous to act on the discrepancies unless they are so fatal and glaring as to affect the credibility of the prosecution case without affording reasonable opportunity to the prosecution to substantiate the allegations,” it was recorded..Justice Chaturvedi also said that the FIR would be considered as the informant’s dying declaration that she authored herself, a day before she committed suicide.“...soon after coming to know that her husband got married in clandestine way with some other lady, by itself is more than sufficient reason to commit suicide. Sushil Kumar, the husband seems to be the main culprit at least to be tried for the offence under section 306 IPC.”.Finding no reason to interfere with the trial court order, the Court dismissed the discharge plea filed by the husband and his relatives. The trial court was directed to frame charges as early as possible and begin the trial against the accused persons..Advocate Shailesh Kumar Tripathi appeared for the revisionists..[Read order]