Nine-year-old dies after collapsing at Delhi school; family alleges delay in medical care

The Delhi High Court has ruled that marital discord and the distress caused by a troubled marriage cannot serve as grounds for implicating an entire family in criminal proceedings unless there are specific allegations and individual roles attributed to the individuals involved. In a 52-page judgment, Justice Madhu Jain expressed concerns over the tendency to accuse the husband's relatives in matrimonial disputes through broad allegations of cruelty.

The judge emphasized that criminal proceedings carry significant consequences beyond the courtroom, affecting an individual's reputation, livelihood, and family life. She stressed that while the law must provide effective protection to women subjected to cruelty, it is equally important to ensure that relatives are not prosecuted solely based on their relationship with the husband. The court also noted that husbands should not face criminal prosecution without sufficient cause.

In the case, the court upheld the trial court's decision to acquit Mayank Singhvi, the husband of late flight attendant Anissia Batra, of charges of cruelty and abetment to suicide, as well as his parents of cruelty and causing dowry death. Anissia, who worked for a German airline, was found dead by suicide in South Delhi's Panchsheel Park on July 13, 2018.

An FIR was lodged after Anissia's mother, Nillum Batra, alleged that Mayank had repeatedly demanded money from her daughter and held him and his parents responsible for her daughter's death. The trial court dismissed these charges in 2019 and directed the framing of charges against Mayank for cruelty and abetment to suicide.

However, Mayank, Anissia's mother, and the Delhi police appealed this verdict. The High Court set aside the trial court's order against Mayank, stating that even if a deceased woman leaves a message blaming someone for her suicide, such an allegation alone is insufficient to establish the offense of abetment to suicide. The court clarified that the deceased's attribution of responsibility to another person is relevant evidence but does not alone determine guilt under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.