1979 INSC 0497
                                              Vaswant Narayan Pawar

                                                           Vs

                                                State of Maharashtra

                             Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 2636 of 1979

                                       (V. R. Krishna Iyer, R. S. Pathak JJ)

                                                      19.12.1979

                                                        ORDER

KRISHNA IYER, J. ­

1. Shri Pramod Swarup appearing as amicus curiae has presented the case of the accused as
effectively as the record permits. Indeed, he has gone to the extent of pressing into service points
which do not appear to us to have any force. Moreover, he has tried to persuade us to believe that a
dying declaration made by the lady who was burnt to death by the husband-accused - that is the
charge on which the trial Court and the High Court had found the petitioner guilty - is exonerative
of the accused husband and does not implicate as the court has construed. The declarant as she was
dying was conscious enough to make a statement and in one of the several statements she made, it
would appear, she said when her husband was being beaten up that even though she had been burnt,
her husband should not be beaten. This is a sentiment too touching for tears and stems from the
values of the culture of the Indian womanhood. A wife when she has been set fire to by her
husband. It is this sentiment which promoted this dying tragic woman to say that even if she was
dying having been burnt, her husband should not be beaten. We are unable to appreciate how this
statement can be converted into one exculpative of the accused. Anyway, we are mentioning these
facts only because Shri Pramod Swarup, contended that they were weighty circumstances sufficient
to cancel the conviction.

2. Wife burning tragedies are becoming too frequent for the country to be complacent. Police
sensitisation mechanizms which will prevent the commission of such crimes must be set up if these
horrendous crimes are to be avoided. Likewise, special provisions facilitating easier proof of such
special class of murders on establishing certain basic facts must be provided for by appropriate
legislation. Law must rise to the challenge of shocking criminology, especially when helpless
women are the victims and the crime is committed in the secrecy of the husband's home. We hope
the State's concern for the weaker sections of the community will be activised into appropriate
machinery and procedure. We dismiss the special leave petition.

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