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Central Act · India · Part IV · Chapter VII — Of the Burden of Proof

Section 117 BSA Presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 · Edition: Original enacted Gazette, 25 December 2023; supplied UP Police IEA comparison (printed pages 9–25)

When the question is whether the commission of suicide by a woman had been abetted by her husband or any relative of her husband and it is shown that she had committed suicide within a period of seven years from the date of her marriage and that her husband or such relative of her husband had subjected her to cruelty, the Court may presume, having regard to all the other circumstances of the case, that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative of her husband.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, "cruelty" shall have the same meaning as in section 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

Source document ↗

Judgments on Section 117

LOK 2013 (9) SC 33 · Supreme Court of India

Gurdip Singh v. State of Punjab

Equivalent citations: AIR 2013 SC (Cri) 2352 : JT 2013 12 SC 85 : 2013 (4) KLT SN 11 : 2013 (11) Scale 122 : (2013) 10 SCC 395 : 2013 (8) SCR 277

ActsIndian Penal Code, 1860 (Sections 304B and 498A); Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (Sections 113A and 113B)

Death within seven years of marriage is a foundational fact the prosecution must prove before the Section 304B IPC / Section 113B Evidence Act presumption arises; where the date of marriage is unproved, the conviction can stand only under Section 498A.