Presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman
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Summary
If a woman commits suicide within seven years of marriage and it is shown her husband or a relative of his subjected her to cruelty, the court may, after considering all other circumstances, presume the husband or that relative abetted the suicide. That creates a legal presumption of abetment which the accused must rebut. "Cruelty" has the meaning given in section 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Example
Priya died by suicide four years after marriage. Evidence showed her husband frequently beat and publicly humiliated her. Under this rule the court may presume the husband abetted her suicide, so he would have to produce evidence to rebut that presumption.
Bare Act
Enacted textWhen the question is whether the commission of suicide by a woman had been abetted by her husband or any relative of her husband and it is shown that she had committed suicide within a period of seven years from the date of her marriage and that her husband or such relative of her husband had subjected her to cruelty, the Court may presume, having regard to all the other circumstances of the case, that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative of her husband.
Explanation.-For the purposes of this section, "cruelty" shall have the same meaning as in section 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
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