Only life imprisonment for dowry deaths: SC

A sentence lesser than life term cannot be awarded to convicts for heinous offences like dowry death where the victim is killed in a brutal manner, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A sentence lesser than life term cannot be awarded to convicts for heinous offences like dowry death where the victim is killed in a brutal manner, the Supreme Court has ruled.

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Justices Swatanter Kumar and Ranjan Gogoi rejected the plea of a victim's husband and brother-in-law for leniency on the ground that they were young, their mother was of advancing age.

"When the offence of Section 304B is proved, the manner in which the offence has been committed is found to be brutal, it had been committed for satisfaction of dowry demands... furthermore the accused takes up a false defence before the court to claim that it was a case of an accidental death and not that of dowry death, then the court normally would not exercise its judicial discretion in favour of the accused by awarding lesser sentence than life imprisonment," Justice Kumar said.

The apex court upheld the life sentence imposed on Mukesh Bhatnagar (husband), Kailashwati (mother-in-law) and Rajesh Bhatnagar for setting ablaze Renu on February 17, 1996, at Roorkee in Uttarakhand.