Report 202 â Proposal to amend Section 304-B IPC Dowry ... - Jeywin
Report 202 â Proposal to amend Section 304-B IPC Dowry ... - Jeywin
Report 202 â Proposal to amend Section 304-B IPC Dowry ... - Jeywin
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8<br />
difficulties in having proof of directly incriminating facts in the<br />
peculiarities of the situation in cases of dowry related deaths.<br />
These difficulties have been sought <strong>to</strong> be redressed by<br />
<strong>amend</strong>ing the substantive as well as procedural laws. Thus, a<br />
new offence of dowry death has been created in <strong>Section</strong> <strong>304</strong>B<br />
that has been inserted in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 with<br />
effect from November 19, 1986. The section provides for<br />
punishment of imprisonment for a term which shall not be less<br />
than seven years but which may extend <strong>to</strong> imprisonment for<br />
life. The section embodies a legal fiction whereby the husband<br />
or the concerned relative is deemed <strong>to</strong> have caused the dowry<br />
death in a case where the conditions prescribed in the section<br />
are present and then the onus shifts on the husband, or as the<br />
case may be, on the relative concerned <strong>to</strong> rebut the presumption<br />
enshrined in the section by cogent evidence <strong>to</strong> show that he has<br />
not caused such dowry death. Besides, <strong>Section</strong> 113A was<br />
inserted in the Indian Evidence Act in 1983 providing for<br />
presumption as <strong>to</strong> abetment of suicide by a married woman if<br />
the conditions specified in that section are satisfied.<br />
1.3 Inadequacy of the existing law.<br />
Notwithstanding the aforesaid legal <strong>amend</strong>ments<br />
the incidents of dowry deaths have not shown any sign of<br />
significant decline. This gave rise <strong>to</strong> demands for capital