Not making tea no provocation for husband to assault wife: Bombay HC

Upholding a 35yearold mans conviction for assaulting his wife the Bombay High Court has said the wifes refusal to make tea for husband could not be accepted as provocation for him to assault her and observed that wife is not a chattel or an objectIn an order passed earlier this month Justice Revati Mohite Dere said marriage ideally is a partnership based on equality But notions of patriarchy and the idea that the woman is a mans property still prevail in society leading a man to think that his wife is his chattel the court observedThe HC also said the testimony of the couples 6yearold daughter inspires confidence and cannot be disbelieved The court upheld the conviction and 10 years imprisonment awarded to Santosh Atkar 35 a resident of Pandharpur in Solapur district by a local court in 2016 He was found guilty on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murderAs per the order Atkar and his wife had been having disputes since some time On the day of the incident in December 2013 his wife insisted on going out without making a cup of tea for him The man then struck her with a hammer injuring her grievously As per the case details and testimony of the couples daughter Atkar then cleaned the spot of the crime gave his wife a bath and took her to hospitalShe succumbed to her injuries after being in the hospital for about a week The defence argued that Atkar had been provoked into committing the crime because his wife refused to make tea The HC however rejected the argument and held that there existed adequate evidence including testimony of the mans daughter to prove the charges against himThe deceased by refusing to make tea for the appellant Atkar by no stretch of imagination can be said to have offered grave and sudden provocation for the appellant to assault her much less such a brutal assault it said It would not be out of place to observe that a wife is not a chattel or an object the HC saidSuch cases reflect the imbalance of gender and skewed patriarchy the sociocultural milieu one has grown up in which often seeps into a marital relationship it said The court said an imbalance of gender roles exists in society where the wife is expected to do all the household choresEmotionallabour in a marriage is also expected to be done by the wife Coupled with these imbalances in the equation is the imbalance of expectation and subjugation Justice Mohite Dere said Social conditions of women also make them handover themselves to their spouses she saidThus men in such cases consider themselves as primary partners and their wives chattel the judge said She said it is unfortunate that suchmedieval notion of wife being the husbands property still exists and the wife is expected to do what her husband wished her to doThus the submission of the learned counsel for the appellant that the deceased by refusing to make tea for the appellant offered grave and sudden provocation is ludicrous clearly untenable and unsustainable and as such deserves to be rejected the HC said while dismissing the mans appeal against his conviction and sentenceThe defence also raised questions on the testimony of the couples daughter saying it was recorded after a delay of some days and it could not be believed But the high court rejected the argument and said Her testimony inspires confidence and cannot be disbelieved There is nothing in the crossexamination of this witness to disbelieve her presence in the house at the relevant timeShe the daughter is a natural witness who woke up on hearing the quarrel between her parents and witnessed the assault on her mother by her father and saw her father clean the spot soon thereafter the court addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever