Treat daughter-in-law as family: SC

dna correspondent @dna

New Delhi: A daughter-in-law should be treated as a family member and not as a housemaid, said the Supreme Court on Wednesday. “A daughter-in-law is to be treated with warmth and affection, and not as a stranger with ignoble indifference. No impression should be given that she can be thrown out of her matrimonial home,” a bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said. The court expressed concern over brides being tortured and burnt in the country, and upheld the sentence of a seven-year jail term to a man for torturing his wife to an extent that she committed suicide. “Respect of a bride in her matrimonial home glorifies the solemnity and sanctity of a marriage, reflects on the sensitivity of a civilised society and epitomises her aspirations dreamt of in nuptial bliss. But the manner in which the bride is sometimes treated in many a home by the husband, in-laws and the relatives creates a feeling of emotional numbness in the society,” the bench said. “It is a matter of grave concern and shame that brides are burned or otherwise their life-sparks are extinguished by torture, both physical and mental, because of demand of dowry and insatiable greed and sometimes, sans demand of dowry,” the bench added.

(Source::::: DNA, 16-05-2013, p.10, http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=45491&boxid=32959&ed_date=2013-5-16&ed_code=820009&ed_page=10)