Court case(2001) 2 SCC 577

The appellant's wife died of burns in the matrimonial home within seven years of the marriage. He was charged and tried for murder under s. 302 IPC, with other relatives. The Sessions Court acquitted them. On the State's appeal the Karnataka High Court, without any charge under s. 304B having been framed, convicted the husband of dowry death and sentenced him to seven years. He appealed, contending that he had never been called upon to meet a case of dowry death.

The three-judge bench (K.T. Thomas J) set aside the conviction and remitted the case for retrial after a charge under s. 304B was framed. A conviction without a charge is not necessarily illegal, but the accused must not be prejudiced. The ingredients of s. 304B differ from those of s. 302: once the prosecution proves the ingredients of s. 304B, the court is bound to presume under s. 113B that the accused caused the dowry death, and the burden shifts to him to rebut it. An accused tried only for murder would have had no occasion to lead evidence to rebut a presumption he did not know he faced. Convicting him under s. 304B without a charge therefore caused a failure of justice.