JUDGMENT M.F. Saldanha, J.—This appeal preferred by the State of Karnataka assails the validity of the order of acquittal recorded in favour of the husband of the original Accused No. 1 and his mother original Accused No. 3 by the learned Sessions Judge, Dakshina Kannada, at Mangalore, by virtue of the judgment and Order dated 30.3.1996. It was alleged that Accused 1 had married the deceased Smt. Sumangala on 11.4.1988 and that the wife had been subjected to ill treatment at the hands of the husband and his parents pursuant to which she finally left the matrimonial home approximately one month prior to the date of the incident which is 2.11.1988. The Accused No. 1-husband is a bank employee and the deceased-wife was also a bank employee. On 2.11.1988 she came to her parents home after her work and even though she was called by her mother to have some refreshments she bolted the door of her room and hanged herself. It was necessary to remove the tiles and send a person into the room to open the door and even though the body was still warm she was pronounced dead when she was taken to the hospital. The police, on the basis of a complaint lodged by the parents of the deceased girl registered an offence punishable under Sections 498A and 306 Indian Penal Code against the husband who is Accused No. 1, the father who was Accused No. 2 and the mother who is Accused No. 3. The original accused No. 2 i.e. father passed away and consequently the trial proceeded only against Accused Nos. 1 and 3. At the trial, the main evidence consisted of the depositions of the mother of the deceased girl PW1-Lakshmi, PW2-Subbanna Bhat who is a relative, PW3-P.N. Krishna Bhat father of the girl, two doctors P Ws-4 and 5 who had occasion to treat the deceased at some earlier point of time and the rest of the evidence which is essentially formal in nature. I need to mention here that the prosecution has produced a letter which is established to be in the handwriting of the deceased which is Exhibit-P3 and which is addressed to Ramachandra Acharya, a Senior Manager of the Karnataka Bank who is also a family friend and the prosecution has sought to place strong reliance on this letter because there are certain statements in it to the effect that the deceased was unhappy over the fact that she was being asked to surrender the whole of her salary and secondly that the accused were asking for her gold ornaments. At the conclusion of the trial the learned Judge has held that the evidence was insufficient to establish the charges and recorded an order of acquittal. The present appeal is directed against that order. 2. At the hearing of the appeal this Court has done a total review of the evidence on record with the able assistance of the learned Additional State Public Prosecutor and the Respondents' Counsel. I have also heard them in detail with regard to both the factual and legal aspects of the case. I need to prefix this judgment with the observation that certain interesting and important facets of the law have come up for consideration in this case apart from which this Court has had to consciously take note of the fact that this is an appeal against acquittal and that unless it is demonstrated that the decision of the lower Court is manifestly wrong and has resulted in gross miscarriage of justice that no interference would be warranted merely because some other view may be possible. 3. Learned Counsel who appears in support of the appeal has relied heavily on the evidence of P Ws 2 and 3 who have in terms stated that the deceased had complained to them from time to time that she had been treated with a high level of cruelty and her father has gone to the extent of stating that the accused-husband had used physical violence against her and that he had even beaten and kicked her on certain occasions. They have mainly harped on the aspect of the complaints received from the deceased to the effect that the accused persons were insistant upon her surrendering the whole of her earnings to them after keeping a very small sum of money for her day to day expenses and that she was not agreeable to this and was deeply hurt because of the consequential unpleasantness that arose. They have very clearly alleged that the accused persons were making several enquiries about the gold jewelry which had been given to the deceased at the time of the marriage as they had their eye on it and according to them, it is because of the ill treatment meted out to the deceased that she went into a state of deep depression and committed suicide. Though the suicide has taken place at the parents' house the clear allegation is to the effect that it was because of the ill treatment meted out to the deceased by the accused that she was pushed to commit suicide. The learned Counsel submitted that this evidence has hardly been assailed in cross examination and if this evidence is to be accepted by the Court that it would establish an offence punishable under Section 498-A Indian Penal Code as also the graver offence punishable under Section 306 Indian Penal Code. He has also placed reliance on the legal position that emerges in so far as his submission is that certain presumption would arise against the accused if the suicide can be attributed to their wrongful acts. 4. The defence pleaded in this case is an interesting one. Mr. S. Vishwajith Shetty, learned Counsel who represents the Respondents-accused points out that it is the prosecution and not the defence that has led the evidence of P Ws 4 and 5 both of whom are doctors. The evidence of these two doctors establishes the fact that the deceased Sumangala was suffering from fits of depression and that she had been treated for a prolonged period of time for this condition even prior to her marriage. Mr. Shetty has harped on this last aspect of the matter and emphasised the fact that this depressive condition of the deceased clearly indicates that she suffered from a serious mental ailment which required medical treatment over a prolonged period of time and that this condition had manifested itself long before her marriage. Mr. Shetty has harped on this last aspect of the matter and emphasised the fact that this depressive condition of the deceased clearly indicates that she suffered from a serious mental ailment which required medical treatment over a prolonged period of time and that this condition had manifested itself long before her marriage. He has also pointed out that the condition persisted even thereafter. What the learned Counsel submits is that the evidence of P Ws 4 and 5 both of whom are prosecution witnesses in terms establishes that the deceased had a history of mental depression and he has highlighted one sentence from the evidence of PW-4 Dr. Shivarama Karikal wherein the doctor has pointed out that the deceased herself had expressed a desire to put an end to her life. This had happened before her marriage when the accused were no where in the picture. The submission that is canvassed is that even assuming that there was some misunderstanding or unpleasantness over the question of whether the deceased should give part of her salary to the house-hold or not that effectively, it was she who finally took the decision to leave the matrimonial home, that she was supported in this by her parents and that the accused were no where in the picture after she has left the house of the accused. The incident has taken place one month thereafter and the learned Counsel has vehemently submitted that the accused were in no way responsible for the suicide. On the question of Section 498A Indian Penal Code the submission canvassed by the learned Counsel is that the ingredients of the section require cruelty of a very grave and serious nature, that the totality of evidence in this case does not meet with this requirement and that consequently, the order of acquittal should not be disturbed. 5. I have very carefully re-examined the evidence on record because I do share the anxiety expressed by the learned Additional State Public Prosecutor that unfortunately, a young educated woman has met with a premature death and if the accused were responsible in any manner either for her death or for the suffering inflicted on her prior to that point of time that this Court will have to take a stringent view of the material on record and award adequate punishment. The first aspect of the case concerns the question as to whether the material on record is sufficient to bring the case within the ambit and scope of Section 498 Indian Penal Code. Taking it at the very highest, the evidence which includes the statements made by the deceased in the letter Exhibit-P3, would establish that the accused were asking her to contribute her salary to the household income and that she was not agreeable to do this. The question arises as to whether by insisting on the deceased contributing her earnings, in other words, that she should be divested of her earnings the accused are liable for having inflicted cruelty within the definition embodied in Section 498 Indian Penal Code. I have no hesitation in holding that the salary was the independent earning of the deceased wife and that consequently, it was certainly not correct to insist that she should give it to the house-hold, though there can be a shade of opinion which supports the view that as a married person that some obligation would have been there on her part to contribute to the household expenses since the family virtually belonged to the middle class strata. If the accused had even insisted on this, that cannot be construed as having inflicted cruelty of the level that is sufficient to drive a person to grave bodily harm or to commit suicide. Section 498A envisages only that kind of physical or mental cruelty which is of a grave and serious nature or in other words which has very serious damaging consequences physically and mentally or which is so very persistent and so very heinous that it would drive the victim to desperation or push the victim to a suicide. The legislature has taken cognisance of the fact that when a husband and wife live together, that quarrels and misunderstandings are part of the normal day-to-day process of married life and that the law does not go to extremes by inflicting convictions in respect of trivial matters or not too serious incidents or quarrels. The legislature has taken cognisance of the fact that when a husband and wife live together, that quarrels and misunderstandings are part of the normal day-to-day process of married life and that the law does not go to extremes by inflicting convictions in respect of trivial matters or not too serious incidents or quarrels. The law only takes cognisance of the situations that are sufficiently grave and serious of the type that have been outlined above and which have the type of consequences that have been defined in Section 498-A Indian Penal Code and the material on record in the present case which includes the allegation that the accused had their eye on the gold jewelry of the deceased wife would all, even cumulatively, not add up to cruelty that would be sufficient to justify a conviction under Section 498A Indian Penal Code. This Court needs to sound a note of caution in so far as unless the nature of cruelty of the type envisaged in the section is established, it would be wrong to jump to conclusions and record convictions in respect of the several forms of unpleasantness or misunderstandings and quarrels of a not too serious nature and the Court also needs to take note of the fact that when a break-up of marriage has occurred that the aggrieved parties have a strong tendency to exaggerate on the question of what exactly transpired. This is evident from the evidence of PW1 to PW3 because, on a careful examination of the Exhibit-P3 which is a letter from the deceased girl it is more than evident to me that she was unhappy over the domestic situation and had therefore, decided to go away to her parents place. The so-called cruelty was not so grave or serious as to make her feel desperate nor has it had any grave physical or mental repercussions as otherwise this would have been reflected in the letter. 6. It is true that the prosecution has alleged and so has the learned Additional State Public Prosecutor before me vehemently contended that there was no reason for a young married woman to have suddenly committed suicide unless it was the effect of the past incidents. 6. It is true that the prosecution has alleged and so has the learned Additional State Public Prosecutor before me vehemently contended that there was no reason for a young married woman to have suddenly committed suicide unless it was the effect of the past incidents. It is an interesting argument that has been put forward wherein the learned Counsel submitted that it was obvious that even after a lapse of sometime, namely, one month, that the effects of the ill treatment at the hands of the accused had not worn off and that it was this and nothing else which provoked or triggered off the suicide. There would have been some justification in this argument which gets totally nullified by the medical evidence on record. A study of the cases of depressives indicates that it is a mental condition which is required to be treated continuously and almost indefinitely as otherwise there is a strong possibility of a recurrence. Sumangala had a history of depression, the doctors had treated her for it and the PW4 has even stated that while she was under his treatment even prior to the marriage she expressed thoughts of suicide. This evidence possibly holds the key to the said incident that took place on 2.11.1988 and with this material on record, it would be a gross error for a Court to conclude that the accused are liable for abatement of the suicide. Before a conviction can be recorded under Section 306 Indian Penal Code there has got to be very clear cut evidence on record from which the Court can conclusively hold that it was the ill treatment and torture, physical, mental or both that virtually drove the victim to suicide. The material on record in the present case falls short of that requirement. 7. On a total consideration of the record, therefore, and on an in-depth examination of the principles of law applicable to this category of cases it is necessary for me to hold that the findings recorded by the trial Court namely, that the charges in the present case are unsubstantiated, requires to be confirmed. The appeal accordingly fails and stands dismissed. The bail bonds of the accused, if executed to stand cancelled.