Basic ingredients of offence punishable under s. 484A IPC
"The basic purport of the statutory provision in Sec. 498A is to avoid `cruelty' which stands defined by attributing a specific statutory meaning attached thereto as noticed hereinbefore. Two specific instances have been taken note of in order to ascribe a meaning to the word `cruelty' as is expressed by the legislature : Whereas explanation (a) involved three specific situations viz. (i) to drive the woman to commit suicide or (ii) to cause grave injury or (iii) danger to life, limb or health, both mental and physical and thus involving a physical torture or atrocity. In explanation (b) there is absence of physical injury but the legislature thought it fit to include only coercive harassment which obviously as the legislature intent expressed is equally heinous to snatch the physical injury; whereas one is patent, the other one is latent but equally serious in terms of the provisions of the statute since the same would also embrace the attributes of `cruelty' in terms of sec. 498A".
