The death of a married woman by burns, other unnatural bodily harm, or under otherwise suspicious circumstances within the early years of her marriage, where it can be shown that she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or his relatives in connection with a demand for dowry shortly before her death. India codified the offense at Section 304B of its Indian Penal Code in 1986, applying it to a death occurring within seven years of marriage, and paired the criminal charge with a companion provision in the Indian Evidence Act that shifts the burden onto the husband or in-laws to disprove cruelty once dowry-related harassment and an unnatural death within that period are shown, given the evidentiary difficulty a victim's family and prosecutors otherwise face in proving what happened inside a marital home.
Facts
Elements of OffenseSection 304B of the Indian Penal Code creates a rebuttable presumption that the husband or his relatives caused the death if a dowry demand and related cruelty toward the woman are shown to have occurred shortly before her unnatural death 1 Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. Dowry system in India (Wikipedia)
Laws against Dowry sectionQuote, Laws against Dowry section
Section 304B was added to the Indian Penal Code, which created the presumption that if a woman was subject to a demand of dowry before her untimely death, the husband and his family would be presumed to have caused said death.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.