In a judgement that will surely cause fury, the Tripura High Court reduced the sentence of a man convicted of throwing acid at his wife after she refused to return with him to their matrimonial home
A bench consisting of Justice S Talapatra and SG Chattopadhyay in Alamin Miah vs State of Tripura made the judgement reducing his crime from that handed out by a trial court which had suggested life imprisonment. It was instead reduced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
According to a report in Live Law, the sentence was reduced for the man who thew acid on his wife after she refused to return with him
The judgement noted the appellant wished to restore his ‘matrimonial circumstance’ and said that court couldn’t overlook the ‘mitigating circumstance while deciding about the proportionality of sentence’.
It added that his ‘reluctant wife not willing to reunite might have caused a sense of frustration in the appellant’.
The bench reduced the sentence provided under Section 326 A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid) from life to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. It also refused to charge him under Section 498 A saying they couldn’t establish evidence of cruelty.
What is Section 326 A?
326A: Whoever causes permanent or partial damage or deformity to, or burns or maims or disfigures or disables, any part or parts of the body of a person or causes grievous hurt by throwing acid on or by administering acid to that person, or by using any other means with the intention of causing or with the knowledge that he is likely to cause such injury or hurt, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and with fine:
Provided that such fine shall be just and reasonable to meet the medical expenses of the treatment of the victim:
Provided further that any fine imposed under this section shall be paid to the victim.
What is Section 498 A?
498A. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.—Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation.—For the purpose of this section, “cruelty” means—
(a) any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or
(b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.]
