MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court remitted a dowry death case to a lower court for a re-trial in Madurai. Justice Nirmal Kumar observed that the husband had not been provided an opportunity to defend himself before his conviction on the charges imposed on him.
He was passing orders on a petition filed by one Gnanavel, challenging the 10-year imprisonment awarded to him by a Mahila court in Madurai in 2014 on charges of murdering his wife in 2007.
The judge noted that when the trial court took up the case in 2008, the charges framed against the petitioner were under Sections 302 (Murder) and 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“However, as the Revenue Divisional Officer, VAO, and Panchayat President confirmed that the victim’s death was unnatural and gave a categorical finding that demand of dowry, harassment and cruelty led to her death, the trial court convicted the husband under Section 304B of the IPC,” the judge read.