Madras High Court Says In-laws Can't Be Left Out In Bride Suicide Cases

 The Madras High Court on Tuesday declared that the in-laws can't be left out in cases of bride suicides, just because they did not live with the woman and refused to suspend a jail term imposed by a lower court on the parents of a newly-wed groom.

"Since the in-laws are not residing with their son and the victim woman and they are seeking suspension of sentence on that ground... Taking advantage of that, a wrong message has gone to society that the parents can easily escape from their liability and the alleged offence," Justice P Velmurugan had said.

Besides that, the Madras High Court also said that parents should not stop providing their children with food, shelter and clothing and urge them to get a job alone.

The judge also added that the responsibility of the parents is to ensure that their children become responsible citizens. Subsequently, the judge dismissed a criminal miscellaneous petition from the parents of a person who were sentenced to two years’ Rigorous Imprisonment in a dowry harassment case. According to the case, their daughter-in-law had allegedly died by suicide.

Madras High Court acknowledges how in-laws escape from liability by claiming that they don't stay with their sons

The Madras High Court also noted that there were high incidences of women killing themselves due to dowry harassment of late. It also stated that the in-laws were escaping punishments by saying that they weren't living with their son.

Also, the in-laws were provoking their sons to extract the dowry from the brides. This dowry could be in the form of jewelry, money, vehicles, and more.

“Given the nature and gravity of the offence committed by the accused, this Court is not inclined to suspend the sentence,” the judge said and posted the main appeal challenging the sentence to April 28.