High Court: Asking Wife for Money for Business Not Dowry

The High Court has observed that demanding money from a wife for business purposes cannot be considered dowry. The higher court acquitted an accused named Md. Russell Uddin by quashing the two-year rigorous imprisonment handed down by the lower court in a case filed on charges of dowry demand and torture. At the same time, the court termed the case fabricated and baseless.

The full verdict from the single High Court bench of Justice Md. Salim was released on Sunday (October 11).

According to the case records, Md. Russell Uddin married Ismat Ara Begum on February 23, 2016, under Muslim law. It was alleged that on the evening of August 4, 2019, Russell demanded one lakh Taka from his wife for business purposes at a rented house in the Baitush Sharaf Mosque Road area of Cox’s Bazar. The wife also alleged that she was beaten with a wooden stick when she expressed inability to provide the money.