The Supreme Court has allowed a 99-year-old man, convicted in a dowry death case, to walk free after a year-and-a-half in jail.
A Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy ordered Bhan Singh to be released forthwith from prison, saying that the year-and-a-half he spent in jail was enough punishment.
Singh's appeal had been pending in the Supreme Court since 2004. His lawyer, advocate Rajiv Nanda, said Singh was the third accused in the death of his daughter-in-law from burns. The first two accused—his son and his wife—died while the case was fought in criminal courts.
The incident dates back to the mid-90s. Both the trial court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court held Singh guilty of dowry death, abetment to suicide and harassment for dowry. He had been sentenced to undergo rigorous Imprisonment for seven years under Section 304B IPC (dowry death), rigorous imprisonment of five years and fine of ₹1000 under Section 306 IPC (abetment to suicide) and rigorous imprisonment of two years and fine of ₹500 under Section 498A IPC (dowry harassment).
Singh had appealed in the Supreme Court against his conviction, arguing that he had no part in the woman's death. The Bench zeroed in on the fact that he was 99 years “by now” and has suffered a sentence of one year and nine months already.”
Adding a cautionary note, lest this order would form the basis of future demands for release of dowry death accused of advanced years, the Bench said it did not think Singh should serve the rest of his prison sentence.
“We, without making it precedent in any other case, considering purely the age of the appellant (Singh) as well as the role played by him, reduce the sentence to that of already undergone and direct, since the appellant is suffering incarceration, the appellant to be released forthwith, if not required in any other criminal case,” the court ordered.
