In Brief
A husband convicted of cruelty to his wife under Section 498A IPC challenged his conviction, arguing that the deceased wife's statements could not be admitted to prove cruelty after he was acquitted of dowry death charges (Section 304B). The Supreme Court held that statements of the deceased remain admissible under Section 32(1) of the Evidence Act to prove charges under Section 498A, as long as the cause of death was in question when the evidence was admitted, regardless of whether charges relating to death are later disproved. The Court overruled earlier precedents limiting such admissibility and upheld the conviction based on corroborated testimony of the mother of the deceased.
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