NEW DELHI: A groom’s greed for dowry gold tore apart his marriage within three days, entailed dowry harassment prosecution for 19 years, incarceration for three months, and now the Supreme Court has asked him to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to the bride, who has since married another and settled abroad.
The marsriage took place on Feb 3, 2006. The parents of the bride presented her 60 sovereigns of gold and the groom 10 sovereigns.
But the groom, an infotech professional, acted pricey and demanded an additional 30 sovereigns for him to participate in the post-marriage ceremonies at the bride’s place.
Both groom, bride have moved on in life: SC
Midway through the reception, the groom’s father took him away from the ‘mandap’ accusing the bride’s parents of not presenting the 100 sovereigns. The woman, a corporate executive, could take no more of her husband’s greed-based tantrums and decided to lodge a complaint under Section 498A of IPC and Section 4 of Dowry Prevention Act. The trial court at Saidapet (TN) convicted the groom under provisions of IPC and DP Act and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment with a fine of Rs 3,000 under Section 498A of IPC and a sentence of one year under Sec 4 of DP Act. An additional sessions judge upheld the conviction and sentence.
Madras HC confirmed the conviction but reduced the sentence to two years. When the groom appealed against the HC verdict in SC, he was asked to surrender and lodged in jail for nearly three months before SC granted him bail.
Noting that the groom had already undergone three months of incarceration during the trial and after the HC judgment, the bench said, “The marriage was solemnised on March 31, 2006, and the couple lived together for three days. As noticed from the HC order, the de facto complainant (bride) is married and settled abroad. The case was prolonged for nearly 19 years. Both the groom and bride have moved on in life.”
Reducing the sentence to the period of incarceration already undergone, court directed the man to deposit Rs 3 lakh within four weeks before the Saidapet trial court and directed the court to ensure this money was paid to the woman for the harassment she suffered at the hands of the groom. SC said if the money is not paid, then the case would be listed again for further hearing.
