One incident of husband slapping his wife not cruelty: HC

Ahmedabad: "One incident of a husband slapping his wife on the ground of staying overnight at her parental home without informing him would not be counted as cruelty," the Gujarat high court said while reversing the conviction of a man under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).The HC acquitted the man also convicted for abetting suicide under section 306 of IPC, as it did not find cogent evidence of continuous beating of the woman, which allegedly drove her to commit suicide.
According to the case details, the couple got married in 1995, and lived in Sarigam Pahadpada in Valsad district. The woman committed suicide in May 1995 by hanging herself with a nylon rope from a tree. Her father filed a police complaint accusing her husband of cruelty and harassment, that resulted in his daughter's suicide.He alleged that the husband came home late at night after playing the banjo at musical parties and beat his daughter. Once, he came to his house when his wife stayed overnight. He slapped his wife for staying at her parents' house without informing him. The police booked the man under section 498A and 306 of IPC.After the trial, a sessions court in Valsad in 2003 held the man guilty and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment under section 498A, and a seven-year jail term under 306 of IPC. He challenged his conviction before the HC, which reversed the trial court's order.The HC said that it appeared that the quarrel was only on the ground that the husband went out at night to play the ‘banjo' at marriage ceremonies and, after returning late, there was a quarrel between the husband and wife. The HC further said, "One incident of a husband slapping his wife on the ground of staying overnight at her parental home without informing him would not be counted as cruelty."Acquitting the man of the abetment to suicide charge, the HC said, "The proximate cause of suicide was not proved. Persistent, unbearable continuous beatings required cogent evidence to be considered proved, for the same to be believed as cruelty that drove the daughter to commit suicide by hanging herself to death, finding no other alternative. The witnesses failed to prove the case of cruelty and of abetment for the commission of suicide. The conclusion reached by the trial court became erroneous. The conviction and sentence thus cannot sustain."