In a noteworthy administering on September 20, 2024, the Allahabad High Court expelled an application recorded by Adarsh Yadav looking for release from charges under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), related to share passing, and under Section 498-A IPC and 3/4 of the Dowry Act, 1961. The case includes the affirmed badgering and dowry-related passing of the perished, who was living with the candidate at the time of the occurrence.
The applicant, Adarsh Yadav, contended that the perished had already been hitched to another person, Rohit Yadav, and had not gotten a formal separate some time recently entering into a live-in relationship with him. Based on this, the applicant claimed that since the perished was not his lawfully married spouse, the charges under Section 304-B, which relate to share passing, were not pertinent to him.
The Allahabad High Court, presided over by Justice Raj Beer Singh, dismissed this claim, nevertheless. The Court determined that for the purposes of implementing Section 304-B, it makes no difference whether the dead was lawfully married to the petitioner or not. The Court referenced a 2004 decision by the Supreme Court in Reema Aggarwal v. Anupam & Others, which decided that dowry-related charges might be imposed if the couples cohabitated as husband and wife, even in situations where the validity of the marriage is in question.
The Court stated: "Can a person who enters into a marital arrangement be allowed to take shelter behind a smokescreen to contend that since there was no valid marriage, the question of dowry does not arise? Such legalistic niceties would destroy the purpose of the provisions." The Court further emphasized that at the time of the incident, the deceased was living with Adarsh Yadav, and there were clear allegations of harassment related to dowry demands.
Given this, the Court concluded that a prima facie case existed against the applicant, and his discharge from the trial was not warranted. This ruling underscores the Court's commitment to addressing dowry-related violence, regardless of the technicalities surrounding the legality of a marriage, and affirms that the social evil of dowry harassment must be addressed effectively.
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TAGS: Allahabad High Court dowry death Section 304-B IPC Adarsh Yadav live-in relationship dowry harassment.
