Presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman
AI Assist
Summary
When a married woman commits suicide within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that her husband or his relatives had subjected her to cruelty, the court may, considering all other circumstances, presume the suicide was abetted by the husband or those relatives. Cruelty is to be understood as defined for offence 498A of the IPC. The presumption is rebuttable and depends on the whole evidence.
Example
Priya dies by suicide three years after marriage. Neighbours and medical records show her husband frequently beat and threatened her. Given this, the court may presume the husband abetted her suicide, unless other evidence rebuts 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.
Explanations
For the purposes of this section, cruelty shall have the same meaning as in section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).
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