Court discharges husband in case of wife's death

A Delhi court has discharged a husband who was accused of causing his wife's death due to negligence in taking medical care.

Within a month of living with her husband in Delhi, the wife was found unconscious and later declared brought dead at the hospital. Additional Sessions Judge Arun Sukhija, who set aside the order of a magisterial court to frame charges causing death due to negligence, said as per the postmortem report, she died due to 'pulmonary edema,' an ailment of prolonged and chronic infection in the liver and spleen, and the doctor's report has noted that the infection could have developed two to three months before her death.

The judge noted that while the death occurred one month after she joined the company of her husband, it was clear that she developed the infection two to three months earlier, while still living with her father.

Further, the judge also noted that when the deceased visited a doctor in June 2012, the doctor could not diagnose that she was facing a major health issue.

Addressing the question of whether there was gross negligence by the husband in not taking care of his wife and not informing his father-in-law, the judge said, "No doubt, there may be some negligence on the part of petitioner that he has not taken the version of the complainant seriously at that time, however, it is the human nature to console the person (his father-in-law) who is sitting far away (so) that he will not worry about the health of his daughter ..." "This Court is of the considered view that suspicion cannot take the place of grave suspicion and prima facie, this Court is of the view that no ingredients of Section 304A IPC ( causing death due to negligence) are made out against the petitioner," the sessions judge said.

The couple got married in June 2009, but they started living together on May 30, 2012. The wife died on July 2, 2012, The father of the deceased registered an FIR against the husband and his family members under Sections 498 A (husband or husband's relative subjecting a woman to cruelty), 304 A ( causing death due to negligence), and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.

A magisterial court, on October 29, 2021, discharged all accused for the offence under Section 498A IPC while directing the framing of charges against the husband under Section 304 A of the IPC.

It said that "negligence of accused Deepak was the proximate cause of death of Priyanka'' and the accused's "reckless conduct" was apparent from the fact that he had left his wife at home even when her condition was serious and despite being informed about her serious condition by the deceased's father, he "did not rush to home for her immediate assistance." Against the magisterial court's order, the husband had filed a criminal revision petition.

Counsel for the deceased's father said that death occurred because the deceased, Priyanka, was not given urgent medical assistance and the accused Deepak was unable to take proper care of his wife.

Counsel for the husband said that the magisterial court had failed to consider whether the negligence on his part was the "proximate and direct result" of his wife's death.