New Delhi, March 26 -- Observing that dowry deaths are a severe blot on the society, the Supreme Court has said that despite legal prohibitions, this practice continues to result in the unnatural death of thousands of women. A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and Vijay Bishnoi made the observation while cancelling a man's bail in a dowry death case saying the order passed by the Patna High Court releasing the accused on bail is wholly unsustainable. In a very serious crime like dowry death, the high court should have been very careful in exercising its discretion, it said. "Dowry deaths are indeed a profound disgrace and a major social evil representing a severe violation of human rights and dignity. Despite the legal prohibitions, this practice continues to result in the unnatural deaths of thousands of women, often through murder or driven to suicide because of greed-driven demands for money or valuables from the groom's family. Dowry deaths are a severe blot on society," the bench said.

The top court said the high court in its order has not discussed anything and all that weighed with the high court was that the accused was in judicial custody and only two witnesses had been examined till date. "The high court lost sight of many important aspects of the matter, more particularly the post-mortem report indicating number of injuries on the body of the deceased, and the presumption of commission of offence," the bench said. The counsel appearing for the accused submitted that the case is one of suicide. According to the counsel, the deceased was not in a stable state of mind and she is said to have jumped from the sixth floor of a building. The apex court noted that the deceased was married to the accused for one and a half years. The woman was found dead on September 1, 2024, at her matrimonial home in suspicious circumstances with external and internal injuries all over her body. The cause of death assigned in the post-mortem report is hemorrhage and shock due to head injury. "We are of the view that the impugned order deserves to be set aside. The bail granted by the high court should be cancelled and the respondent No.2 - accused should be directed to surrender before the jail authorities. We order accordingly," the bench said.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.