Court example

New Delhi, May 3 (PTI): So what if the bride’s older? Isn’t Ash happy?

In a comment that set off peals of laughter, the Supreme Court today said just because the husband is younger can’t be a reason for a wife to commit suicide.

“It is ridiculous to say that just because the bride was a little older than the groom, it resulted in her suicide,” Justices S.B. Sinha and Markandeya Katju said while hearing a dowry death case.

“In that case, even Aishwarya Rai is said to be a little older than Abhishek Bachchan but they are quite happy with the marriage,” the bench added.

Gayatri, a 20-year-old from Jharkhand, had got married to businessman Raja Lal Singh, the accused, in April 2000. Within seven months of their marriage, she hanged herself at her husband’s house, allegedly over dowry harassment.

The defence, however, pleaded that as the bride was older than the groom, there was a compatibility problem which led to her suicide.

But the bench snubbed the defence counsel, Prabha Shankar Misra, when the former high court chief justice tried to explain that there was no foul play.

“A girl comes to her in-laws’ house leaving behind her own family, friends and relatives,” the judges said. “But in return, what do you give her? You strangle her to death to fulfil your greed for money?”