In Brief
Jagdish Chand and Mishri Devi, parents-in-law, were convicted of dowry death (Section 304-B IPC) and cruelty (Section 498-A IPC) following the death of their daughter-in-law, Shanti Devi, from burn injuries in 1994. The deceased had been ill-treated and faced repeated dowry demands during her marriage of fewer than seven years. The trial court sentenced them to 10 years' imprisonment; the High Court reduced the sentence to 7 years. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence, holding that all three statutory ingredients for dowry death were established: the death occurred within seven years of marriage, cruelty was inflicted for dowry, and the death resulted from burns. The statutory presumption under Section 113-B of the Indian Evidence Act was drawn against the appellants.
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