Section 113B of Evidence Act application: Supreme Court says dowry death cannot be presumed without clear evidence of incessant harassment

The court in the case stressed that in the absence of such evidence, it cannot straightaway invoke the said provision.

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The Supreme Court in the case Ram Pyarey Versus The State Of Uttar Pradesh acquitted an accused of cruelty and abetment of suicide, wherein observed that to apply Section 113B (Presumption as to dowry death) of the Indian Evidence Act, clear evidence for incessant harassment is essential.

The court in the case stressed that in the absence of such evidence, it cannot straightaway invoke the said provision.

The concerned portion of section 113 B read as: 'Section 113B: The presumption as to dowry death - When the question is whether a person has committed the dowry death of a woman and it is shown that soon before her death such woman had been subjected by such person to cruelty or harassment for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, the Court shall presume that such person had caused the dowry death.