Justice delayed in dowry death cases

The prolonged struggle of Manju’s family for justice after her death in 2009 illustrates how difficult it is to secure justice in dowry death cases in the national capital.

Manju’s parents alleged that her death resulted from harassment by her in-laws and linked it to dowry demands. Dissatisfied with utensils, gold, clothes and cash worth Rs 50,000, her husband’s family began demanding a refrigerator, a television and an additional Rs 10,000 in cash. Within 15 days of the marriage, Manju returned to her parents’ home before her husband and sister came to take her back. Twenty days later, she returned again, this time telling her parents that she was being harassed.

“She would call us and tell us about [her difficulties] at her matrimonial home. She would say that her in-laws would not allow her to use the TV or the fridge because she had not ‘brought’ them,” […] Malik, her father, said.

Manju was also beaten by her husband — almost daily — when he was under the influence of alcohol. “At one point, it became unbearable for her. She could not withstand it any more,” Malik said.

Manju was found hanging on July 7, 2009. The FIR stated she was “found hanging… with a dupatta tied horizontally over her mouth and a saree tied around her neck, the other end of which was tied to the ceiling fan”. In her suicide note, Manju said she was solely responsible for her death and urged that no legal action be taken and no accusations be made against her in-laws or her own family, adding that divine justice, rather than the law, would deal with them.

The Maliks were able to secure a favourable verdict at a trial court in Delhi, but the relief was rather short-lived. On May 29, 2026, the Delhi High Court delivered another verdict, overturning the trial court’s judgment. “[The husband and his family] had filed an appeal in the High Court. [The court questioned] the proof of dowry despite multiple testimonies. The fact that it found no mention in her suicide note made the judgment in favour of Manju’s husband, Jawahar Singh,” Monu Malik, Manju’s brother, said.

Low conviction rates

This persistent struggle to get justice in dowry cases is not new. Even charges under abetment to suicide are difficult to prove in court. Across the country, the conviction rate for cases related to dowry and cruelty of husbands (or relatives) towards their wives remains low, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data from 2024. Dowry deaths (Section 80 of BNS) have resulted in 46.2% convictions, cruelty of husbands or relatives towards wives (Section 85 of BNS) 20.1%, and those under the Dowry Prohibition Act 17.4%.

On February 6, 2026, one family finally secured a favourable verdict after 36 years of waiting for justice. Pooja (name changed) passed away on December 9, 1990 at Moolchand Hospital.

“They found a mark along her neck, following which they called us,” said the deceased’s father. The case was then filed under 498A (Cruelty of husband or relatives towards wife) and 304B (dowry death) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “We had earlier gone to contest at a trial court where they said that there was no proof of it being a dowry death since there was no proof of dowry being demanded,” Pooja’s father said.

Pooja’s parents approached the Delhi High Court, contending that the trial court had ignored key facts. “I went through the note she had left before taking her own life and the circumstances surrounding her death. When we had earlier approached the court, those aspects were overlooked. We persisted in the High Court, where the handwriting in the note was matched with another sample. We were finally able to secure justice for my daughter,” the octogenarian said.

In the note, Pooja wrote that another woman had been sacrificed at the altar of dowry, adding that she was exhausted by the daily taunts and harassment she faced. From the day of her marriage, her sister-in-law subjected her to harassment, while her husband threatened to leave her at her parental home if she spoke out. She held a business degree and wanted to get a job, but was told that if she left home, she would not be allowed to return.

Demand for car

In a third case of dowry-related death, the husband was apprehended, but the in-laws were acquitted. The demand for a Santro car became a source of conflict and eventually cost Bimla (name changed) her life. “We gave what we could at the wedding voluntarily, yet the situation deteriorated almost immediately afterwards. Her in-laws taunted my sister repeatedly over the Maruti 800 we provided. Her husband, Vikas, demanded that she bring a larger and more expensive car — a Santro — and Rs 3-4 lakh in cash to fund his business venture,” her brother said.

Her husband and in-laws said she would not be allowed back to her parents’ home if her family did not accede to the demands. “That was the last straw, I think. She wrote about the trauma and the hurt that she had felt. She took her life shortly after,” he added.

In the few cases that have resulted in convictions, justice has come only after a long wait.

Ajay Garg, founder of Radhey Krishna Legal Aid Foundation, an NGO that deals with cases of dowry harassment and death, notes that the outcomes of many of these cases are impacted by flawed investigations.

“The conviction rate in dowry-related cases is low because many of these cases are not investigated properly. Shoddy investigations, coupled with multiple instances of investigating officers being inaccessible to victims and their families, make it difficult to pursue such cases in a focused manner,” he said.

“The fact that these cases drag on for years also makes the victim’s family feel that they may never be able to move on. Thus, sometimes they choose to withdraw the case,” he added.

Affordability a concern

According to Supreme Court advocate Shaad Anwar, the cases are often weakened by the fact that the parties seeking justice reach a compromise, with the victim’s family realising that the process might be too long and financially unsustainable. “A lot of these incidents happen to people who are not very well off, so that always remains a factor,” he said.

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In May 2026, 24-year-old Deepika Nagar lost her life in Greater Noida just 14 months after her marriage. Her family alleged that she was murdered by her in-laws, who had demanded a Toyota Fortuner SUV and Rs 45–50 lakh in cash. While the in-laws claimed she had jumped from the roof, a post-mortem revealed internal injuries, including bleeding in the brain and ruptured organs, leading to the immediate arrest of her husband and father-in-law.

In Bhopal, 33-year-old Twisha Sharma, a former Miss Pune, died at her residence five months after her wedding. She had married into a prominent legal family — her husband, Samarth Singh, is a lawyer, and his mother is a retired judge — and was allegedly pressured to hand over a Rs 20 lakh fixed deposit. Her family staged public protests and refused to perform her last rites until a formal probe was launched, a battle that eventually escalated into a CBI investigation and the arrest of her husband.