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these, dowry death cases have become sensational topical issues with
death cases has special links with the science of forensic medicine
because of the special nature of the investigation taking place within the
Alone can bring deliverance to the fairer sex of the human genre.
Nature created women different from men with a definite purpose. Balance is
stillness and stagnation; imbalance is motion and progress. Nature designed life and
action by means of the imbalance brought about in the traits of men and women. In the
process, women find themselves at the receiving end. They ended up as the weaker half
of society by their very nature and are naturally handicapped in a world of men, by men,
for men. In a world where strength commands charity and weakness receives cruelty, a
woman is at a great disadvantage. She has suffered all types of cruelty and humiliation
all along centuries with patience and in silence. This part of woman is symbolised in
tradition by calling her as the Mother Earth who bears all sufferings. The cardinal
principle of the survival of the fittest applies to the weak, natural attributes of woman
which renders her less fit for survival than man. She must live at his mercy and on his
charity, silently bearing all his atrocities unless and until society in an enlightened mood
The immane approach of the stronger world to its weaker counterparts has to be
countered with strong arm methods of the state power. In an enlightened age such as this
people in public life are sufficiently sensitized to this issue and more and more
legislation come up to stop stronger people from riding over the weak and meek. India
too has several legislations that have become Acts to protect its women folk.
Atrocities against women in India are mainly rape and unnatural offences, dowry
deaths, abduction and kidnapping for various purposes and outraging their modesty apart
from minor acts like various marriage offences, dowry and other harassments, insulting
the modesty, causing miscarriage without consent and prostitution. Most of these
offences are punishable under the Indian Penal Code : in sections from 375 to 377, for
rape and unnatural, offences, abduction and kidnapping girls for various purposes being
punishable in sections from 364 to 369, offences related to marriage being subjected to
penal provisions in sections from 493 to 498, outraging the modesty of a woman in
section 354 and insulting the modesty in section 509 being offences. Section 314
makes causing miscarriage without women’s consent, a punishable act. The Criminal
Law (Amendment) Act 1983 (No.43/83) provided for in camera trial of rape cases and
also enlarged the scope of rape cases by placing the burden of proving innocence on the
accused persons apart from making penal sections more mordant, particularly in cases of
custodial rapes by public servants. The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and
girls Act 1956 with the Suppression on Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls
(Amendment) Act, 1986 and rules framed by states u/s 23 of the Act deal with offences
Dowry death cases have become sensational topical issues these days with the
public being highly sensitised to the menace of the offences with the unfortunate
swelchie of cruel practices and circumstances deliver an innocent girl at death’s door. All
and police handle dowry death cases on a special footing. Each such case outrages the
patience of thinking people and rouses passion and outcry against the perpetrators of the
offence. The police too give special importance to the investigation of these cases and
closely supervises the investigation process. In the circumstances, an insight into the
challenges posed and how they are met is in the interests of both the public and
investigating officers. It must be borne in mind that no investigation can succeed without
public cooperation. And the public, particularly people aggrieved by such unfortunate
incidents, can contribute to the progress of investigation of they have knowledge of its
due process. With this in view, salient features and parameters of dowry death
Investigation of dowry death cases has special links with the science of forensic
medicine because of the special nature of the investigation. Dowry deaths are
investigating officer can have any knowledge about the circumstances and events that led
to the death. Secondly, the offencers being the custodians of the dead body and the scene
for many hours after the death till they volunteer to make its occurrence known, have all
the time in the world to eliminate or tamper with any clues. In the circumstances, the
investigating officer is completely at the mercy of medical experts to interpret the cause
of death.
Often, the mode of death noticed, be it asphyxia, drowning, or burning, may prove
The success of the investigating officer in investigating dowry death cases largely
depends upon forensic medicine experts. Sans proper briefing from the latter, the
investigating officer may not realise the importance of noting the profusion of bleeding or
time when the deceased ate last, how many hours thereafter the first symptoms of
poisoning were noticed, what were those symptoms and how many hours thereafter
death occurred. Thus, the interaction between the investigating officer and forensic
These offences take place within the family circle. Sometimes, though blood
forthcoming and difficult to sustain. Dowry death being an offshoot of the relationship of
wife and husband and veiled in a shroud of secrecy, even the parents of the deceased
may be unaware of the hardships the deceased underwent at the hands of her husband and
of cruelty. The next stage at which he would find himself would be the girl’s death.
There would be an absolute void in-between with no clues or evidence of what happened
or no eyewitnesses to vouch for that , Clues on the dead body and surroundings are likely
affair, independent witnesses refuse to involve themselves. And partisan witnesses are too
polarised to be credible.
The dowry death cases are offences primarily under central Acts namely the
Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 with its amendments of 1984 and 1986 and certain sections
of the Criminal Procedure code, 1973 as amended by Criminal Law ( 2nd Amendment)
sections of the earlier Acts, it is patent that there are still several louche terms that need
interpretation by the court. The term ‘ in connection with the marriage’ while defining
dowry in section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act is unspecific about the flexibility of the
word ‘ connection’ and gives way for its subjective interpretations as well as that of the
term dowry. ‘ The same word ‘ connection’ brings in a similar impression while defining
‘ dowry death’ in Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 113B of the Indian
Evidence Act while declaring ‘ in connection with demand of dowry’ ipso facto rendering
the incatenation between the offence of dowry death and dowry’ demand uncertain and
open for discussion. In the same sections, the phrase ‘ soon before her death’ raises the
question, how soon before? Similarly, the words ‘ relative of her husband’ that figure in
Section 498A of the Criminal Procedure Code, Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code
and Section 113A of the Indian Evidence Act in no way provide exactly what is intended
to be defined; the scope of the words there is too vast and includes even the blood
relatives of the deceased as they are also relatives of the husband after the marriage.
Another important term that defies full comprehension is ‘ likely to drive’ in Section
498A of the Indian Penal Code, where the word ‘like’ by its very meaning is indefinitive
and open for subjective interpretation. The scope for divergent interpretations of these
terms in the comparatively new acts do create problems during investigation of the cases
Law by sections 113 (A) and 113(B) of the Indian Evidence Act relieves the
investigation of cases of death of girls within seven years of their marriage from the
special nature of difficulties by the reason of the crime being committed in the intimate
circle of the offenders. The law provides that the court trying the case may presume that
the accused persons committed the offence if it is proved that the victim was subjected to
cruelty by the accused persons inter alia. The presumptions made easy the investigation
While the presumptions under section 113(B) of the Indian Evidence Act is
applicable to prove dowry death cases u/s 304 (B) IPC, section 113 (A) is applicable to
prove abetment to commit suicide u/s 306 IPC within seven years of the marriage. The
latter presumption benefits investigation of cases while a girl commits suicide under
harassment for reason other than dowry also by her husband or in-laws within seven
years of the marriage while the benefit is available for cases of suicide under the same
circumstances and homicide for dowry reasons under the same circumstances. This
renders investigation of cases of homicide of girls by husband and in-laws within seven
years of marriage which poses the same difficulties as suicide cases under the same
circumstances an impossible task and there are any number of such homicide cases that
were acquitted which would have been convicted by the benefit of the presumptions u/s
113(A) of the Indian Evidence Act if they were suicide cases. Amendment of concerned
intelligence during the preliminary stage of the investigation while examining the dead
body and the scene and collects all incriminating clues and evidences without restricting
himself to the apparent cause of the death, no criminal can fool him and deflect him from
Marriage is often called the second birth in a girl’s life; it brings an entire
metamorphosis in the form and contents of her life and in the process exposes her to
inopinate adaptation problems. It is an irony of nature and social customs that it is the
girl who is delicate in nature rather than the man who is selected for this difficile gauntlet
of transformation in the process of familial socialising. Per case, the gentle and
amenable character of the female breed expose her to the natural selection for the
purpose. In the process, death of the most unfortunate of them by felo de se or homicide
Dowry is only one though primus interpares among various immane manifestations of
adjustment problems to which the tender psyche of a young girl is exposed after her
which a girl is suddenly exposed while her persona is yet unprepared to meet the
gauntlets alone can bring deliverance to the fairer sex of the human genre. The entire
process of social legislations and their enforcement is only a distant link in the whole