me to kill and my stridhan be recovered from the accused persons. It will be so kind of you.” 4. The plain reading of the aforesaid FIR would indicate that the Appellant and his family members are alleged to have demanded dowry and thereby caused mental and physical trauma to the First Informant. As stated in the FIR, the family of the First Informant had spent a large sum at the time of marriage and had also handed over her ‘stridhan’ to the Appellant and his family. However, shortly after marriage, the Appellant and his family started harassing the First Informant on the false pretext that she had failed to discharge her duties as a wife and daughter-in-law and also pressurised her for some more dowry. The Appellant is alleged to be an alcoholic and used to regularly raise Page 7 of 36his hands on the First Informant and treat her inhumanely. Allegedly, upon complaining to the Appellant’s father and mother (Accused Nos. 2 & 3 in the FIR), they would take the side of their son i.e.,