Special Leave Petition Criminal No 2636 of 1979
From the Judgment and Order dated 25 4 1979 of the Bombay High Court in Criminal Appeal No 82277
Pramod Swarup Amicus Curiae for the Petitioner
H R Khanna and M N Shroff for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER J
Shri Pramod Swarup appearing as amicus curiae has presented the case of the accused as effectively as the record permits
Indeed he has gone to the extent of pressing into service points which do not appear to us to have any force
Moreover he has tried to persuade us to believe that a dying declaration made by the lady who was burnt to death by the husband accused that is the charge on which the trial court and the High Court have found the petitioner guilty is exonerative of the accused husband and does not implicate him as the Court has construed
The declarant as she was dying was 1210 conscious enough to make a statement and in one of the several statements she made it would appear she said when her husband was being beaten up that even though she had been burnt her husband should not be beaten
This is a sentiment too touching for tears and stems from the values of the culture of the Indian womanhood
A wife when she has been set fire to by her husband true to her tradition does not want her husband to be assaulted brutally
It is this sentiment which prompted this dying tragic woman to say that even if she was dying having been burnt her husband should not be beaten
We are unable to appreciate how this statement can be converted into one exculpative of the accused
Anyway we are mentioning these facts only because Shri Pramod Swarup contended that they were weighty circumstances sufficient to cancel the conviction
Wife burning tragedies are becoming too frequent for the country to be complacent
Police sensitisation mechanisms which will prevent the commission of such crimes must be set up if these horrendous crimes are to be avoided
Likewise special provisions facilitating easier proof of such special class of murders on establishing certain basic facts must be provided for by appropriate legislation
Law must rise to the challenge of shocking criminology especially when helpless women are the victims and the crime is committed in the secrecy of the husband s home
We hope the State s concern for the weaker sections of the community will be activised into appropriate machinery and procedure
We dismiss the special leave petition
SR Petition dismissed


Summary:
Dismissing the special leave petition the Court  HELD The statement by the dying tragic woman that her husband should not be beaten even though she was dying having been burnt cannot be converted into one exculpative of the accused
This is a sentiment too touching for tears and stems from the values of the culture of the Indian womanhood
1210A B Observation Police sensitisation mechanisms which will prevent commission of crimes like wife burning must be set up if these horrendous crimes are to be avoided
Likewise special provisions facilitating easier proof of such special class of murders on establishing certain basic facts must be provided for by appropriate legislation
Law must rise to the challenge of shocking criminology especially when helpless women are the victims and the crime is committed in the secrecy of the husband s home
1210C E