This article is written by Dhawal Srivastava, a student currently pursuing B.A. LL. B (Hons.) from the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law. In this article, an elaborate case analysis of Mahadevappa v. State of Karnataka has been made by the author where he has also discussed the role of the deceased’s parents as the most natural witnesses in deaths resulting due to dowry demands. This article is edited by Ilashri Gaur, a student pursuing B.A LLB (Hons.) from Teerthanker Mahaveer University.

Introduction

In a culturally and communally charged India, women, despite being worshipped as goddesses, have been at the brunt of the patriarchal and orthodox societal norms since ages. But what is being seen in modern-day India is not very different from that practice for the abolition of which leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy worked extensively; rather it is just the opposite of it. While sati essentially meant self-immolation of a widow after the death of her husband on his funeral pyre, feeding fat the belief that a woman’s existence is all about revolving around a man’s life, dowry burnings are the cruel and the contemporary antithesis of sati. While sati was considered to be a sacrifice of religious honour, dowry burnings reflect and profess the belief of treating a woman as a mere commodity, destined to be sacrificed out of consumer dissatisfaction.

Dowry is illegal in India. However, many continue to practice this antisocial tradition which costs the lives of various women across the country every year. The case in hand, Mahadevappa v. State of Karnataka, is one of the examples of the same.

Facts of the case

• The accused, Mahadevappa, got married to the deceased named Rukmini Bai in the year 1994. On the same day, the brother of the accused, Bhimanand, got married to Rukmini Bai’s younger sister named Sona Bai. The marriages were solemnised in the Lokeshwar Temple of a place in Karnataka called Lokapur. The accused was then serving as a constable in the Kaladagi District, where he went with Rukmini Bai after the culmination of their wedding, while his brother went with Sona Bai to Nagaland where he worked as a constable in the CRPF. 
• In October 1995, almost a year after their marriage, Rukmini Bai’s father, Ekanath, received a wireless message regarding the admittance of his daughter at a government hospital in Bagalkot, Karnataka due to sustaining of burn injuries. 
• On visiting her in the hospital, Ekanath discovered her injuries to be critical. On asking Rukmini Bai about how she ended up burning herself, the deceased started crying and told her ordeal to her father; that how her husband had poured kerosene over her entire body and set her ablaze. 
• Rukmini Bai succumbed to her injuries later towards the end of the same day on which her father visited her. 
• Ekanath lodged an FIR (First Information Report) in the Kaldagi Police Station against the accused on the very same day for the commission of offences under Section 498(A) of the IPC (matrimonial cruelty to a woman) read with Section 302 (punishment for murder).
• The concerned investigating officer started the investigation post the complaint and also sought statements from various persons. The post mortem of the body was also conducted, Foreign Science Laboratory (FSL) report obtained and sufficient evidence collected after which, the investigating officer filed a charge sheet against Mahadevappa in the sessions court. 

Verdict of the sessions court 

The Sessions Judge held that Mahadevappa is not guilty under Section 498A and Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and acquitted him. The learned judge’s rationale was that the side prosecution was unable to present sufficient evidence to prove that the deceased was tortured or tormented repetitively with demands of procuring dowry from her family members. The judge also held that it was not proved in the court of law whether the death caused was homicidal or not. 

However, the State of Karnataka was not satisfied with the judgement of the Sessions Court which acquitted Mahadevappa. Aggrieved, the State filed an appeal in the High Court of Karnataka whereby they sought a leave to appeal questioning the accuracy and legality of the hon’ble judge’s decision of relieving the accused of all the charges.

High Court’s verdict in the case

The High Court subsequently granted the sanction to file an appeal and later allowed the State’s appeal to pursue the case. In a judgement overturning the session court’s decision, the High Court of Karnataka held Mahadevappa to be guilty under section 498A and section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. It was held by the Karnataka High Court that the evidence supplemented by the side prosecution was sufficient enough to prove that Mahadevappa had, beyond any reasonable doubt, subjected his wife, the deceased, Rukmini Bai to cruelty, demanding dowry and murdering her by kindling her body. 

Thus, the High Court’s judgement was challenged by the accused in the Supreme Court. 

Hearings in the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India was convinced with the judgement of the Karnataka High Court and upheld the conviction of the accused, Mahadevappa in the case, fully concurring with their findings and conclusion. The charges against the accused under Section 498-A and Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code were found to be well reasoned out by the apex court, owing to all the evidence submitted by the side prosecution in this matter.

The court fully acknowledged the death of Rukmini Bai after seventeen months of her marriage with the appellant in this case (Mahadevappa). It was also agreed by the court that she was a healthy woman with no ailments and that the death occurred due to the severe burn injuries inflicted on her.

Testimonies of the deceased’s parents

Ekanath, the father of the deceased, also gave testimony about the appellant’s addiction to alcohol and how this behaviour used to become the reason for violence against his daughter at the hands of his son-in-law. Ekanath also testified about the frequent visits by the appellant to his house in an inebriated state and how he would try to force his daughter, the deceased, to consume alcohol, soliciting and harassing her in the process. The father of the deceased also told the hon’ble court about the predicament of his daughter, narrated to him by her about the constant and regular domestic violence by the appellant against her in his drunken state. Ekanath also brought to the notice of the court how he had sent sums of four to five thousand and two thousand rupees through his daughter on the appellant’s orders, which he had to stop instead of his financial constraints and inadequacies. The deceased had also expressed to her parents apprehensions of risk and danger to her life whenever she was alone with the appellant and requested them to welcome her back in their household. It was only after the advice and aid of the elders of the village was she persuaded to return to her husband’s place. 

The deceased had also written and delivered a letter to her parents about the continuing mistreatment following which her mother, Savitribai and aunt, Draupadi also went to her house to meet her, only to be physically assaulted and abused by the appellant. Against this behaviour of the appellant, the ladies approached the local police station. 

Rukmini Bai, under the coercion of her husband’s abuses, demanded a sum of rupees three thousand failing which she would not be allowed to meet her parents. 

To all the statements given by the deceased’s father, her mother, Savitribai corroborated to every one of them and agreed upon the fact that the appellant had subjected their daughter to intense cruelty to procure dowry from her.

Other testimonies

The other witnesses included the appellant’s brother and Ekanath’s second son-in-law, Bhimanand who also testified about the violent behaviour of the appellant towards the deceased. Another close relative of Ekanath named Kristappa testified against the appellant about his cruel treatment towards Rukmini bai. 

Supreme Court’s judgement

• Based on the testimonies given by the four prosecution witnesses as mentioned above, the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court constituted by Hon’ble Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice A. Sapre concluded about the addictive behaviour of the appellant towards liquor, his constant demands from his in-laws for money (amounting to dowry) and the inhuman treatment meted out to his wife who subsequently succumbed due to the fatal burn injuries inflicted by him on her body.
• The Supreme Court also enshrined a principle in the judgement wherein they held the parents of the deceased woman to be the most natural and material witnesses to speak on issues such as the ones involved in the case. The court also reasoned that in such circumstances, the newly married girl will always find it feasible and easier to discuss and disclose such things with her parents rather than anyone else as they are the most accessible and can help her in such situations.
• The Court also found no contradiction in the accounts given by the four prosecution witnesses. 
• The apex court also held the rationale that why at all would the parents of a deceased woman lie or misguide the court unless there be any justifiable reasons behind it. 
• Moreover, the court held the death to be homicidal because the deceased was firstly doused with kerosene oil and burned subsequently, an action that could only be carried out by the appellant who was the sole person available at that time. Other evidence such as broken bangles, a bottle of kerosene on the location were retrieved which are strong proofs against the appellant.

Harsh reality of dowry deaths in India

Despite the availability of penal provisions in the criminal code of the country and having a specific, individual law entitled Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 which lays down and stipulates punishments for promoting or practising dowry, dowry deaths seem not to cease in the country. As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report released in the year 2017, there are 21 deaths daily of women due to reasons of dowry demands across the country and the conviction rate is low at less than 35 per cent of the total cases. However, a positive that was observed in the statistics showed that 93.7 per cent of the cases had a police charge-sheeted against the accused. 

Correcting the loopholes in the current laws

According to various experts, there are various shortcomings in the current laws governing dowry in India. The judicial proceedings are slowed down due to the improper investigations that happen in the commencement of the case. ‘Gifts’ such as jewellery, money, cars and clothes are still given by parents to their newly wedded daughters to facilitate their good standard of living in their matrimonial houses even under the outlawed custom. There needs to be clarity in the law with regards to this practice, often excused as ‘voluntary contributions’ by the bride’s side. It has also been observed that after the marriage, the groom’s family starts to harass the newly married bride physically or mentally or both which often leads to ‘dowry death’ that encompasses both suicide and murder.

Conclusion

Hence, it can be conclusively held that dowry is a bane not only for women but for the society at large. There are already many pending cases in the Indian courts and these do not seem to slow down shortly. In this regard, the judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Mahadevappa case can be used as a precedent that can help in faster settling of cases related to dowry deaths in the country with the testimony of the deceased’s parents’ having received a heavy weightage and importance in the eyes of the court.

References

• Teays, W. (1991). The Burning Bride: The Dowry Problem in India. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 7(2), 29-52. Retrieved July 3, 2020. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25002154  
• https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/dowry-deaths-national-crime-records-bureau-conviction-rate-972874-2017-04-22

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