Kerala High Court in a landmark Judgment said that pledging for wife’s gold ornaments without her consent marks as a criminal breach of trust under Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The decision was announced by Justice A. Badharudeen. A single bench of Justice A. Badharudeen was hearing Criminal Revision Petition No. 1006 of 2024, filed by Surendra Kumar, a Kasaragod native. The accused had challenged the trial court and sessions’ court’s order which had convicted him for six months of imprisonment for the offence of Criminal breach of trust.

The court observed that the husband had violated trust of his wife by misusing the gold ornaments which was entrusted to him. The court said that it caused losses to the wife. The court further declared that there was no need to intervene in trial and sessions court’s order as the offence of criminal breach of trust was fully established.

As per the case, his wife’s mother had gifted her daughter 50 sovereigns of gold ornaments at the time of marriage. The wife had given the responsibility of the gold to her man and asked him to keep it safe in a locker of the bank. But, the man without asking his wife had pledged the gold to a financial company. The trial court had convicted the man with six months of simple imprisonment. The sessions court also upheld the order and directed the man to pay compensation of Rs 5,00,000 Lakh to his wife.

What Is The Case?

According to Law Trend reports, the Kasaragod police led an investigation based on initial complaint and filed charges under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating). 471 (using forged documents as genuine), and 420 (cheating) of the IPC. The Kasaragod Chief Judicial Magistrate, tried the case in 2014, and convicted the man in September 2019.

Punishment Under Section 406 Of IPC For Criminal Breach Of Trust

Punishment for Criminal Breach of Trust has been defined under Section 406 of IPC, it says, “Whoever commits criminal breach of trust shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.”

Criminal Breach of trust is observed when the accused commits an offence by creating or converting property of another person for his own use. The transferor retains legal ownership in a connection that is established between the transferor and transferee of the property.

Does Pledging Gold Breach Trust?

An act is considered to be a criminal breach of trust if the following criteria is established which includes existence of entrustment of the property, the individual must have dishonestly misappropriated, misused or converted the entrusted property to his use breaching the terms of trust. If the elements of Section 405 of the IPC are violated then it also comes under Criminal breach of trust.

Criminal Breach of Trust is a non-bailable and cognizable offence that is tired by a First class Magistrate.

Stridhan And Section 406

The Supreme Court had said that a woman is the sole owner of her ‘streedhan,’ which includes gold ornaments and other assets given by her parents at the time of marriage. A per the law, even a father has no right to pursue the recovery of his daughter’s ‘stridhan.’

Keeping in view the existing laws, husbands also therefore can’t use wives’ ‘stridhan’ without her consent.

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