GURJIT SINGH vs THE STATE OF PUNJAB HOME DEPARTMENT SECRETARY — Crl.A. No. 1492 - 1493/2010

Case Summary: Gurjit Singh v. State of Punjab Court Decision: The Supreme Court partially allowed the appeal, upholding the conviction under Section 498-A IPC (cruelty to wife) but setting aside the conviction under Section 306 IPC (abetment of suicide) and acquitting the appellant of that charge. Key Reasoning: While the prosecution proved cruelty through dowry harassment (demanding ₹50,000), there was insufficient evidence of a direct causal link between the cruelty and the suicide. The two-month time gap between the last dowry demand and the suicide, combined with the absence of any evidence showing the accused intentionally instigated the deceased to commit suicide, meant the presumption under Section 113-A of the Evidence Act could not be drawn without establishing instigation as the first clause of abetment requires. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.