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● Asking money for business isn't dowry: High Court ● Workers block Dhaka-Mymensingh highway ● UP elections begin on Jan 21; voting to be held in five phases ● Litton Das reaches 9,000 international runs ● President stresses need to ensure equal rights for boys and girls ● Miscreants attack JaPa Chairman GM Quader's home ● Bangladesh to shift Secretariat to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar

Asking money for business isn't dowry: High Court

Published : Monday, 12 October, 2026 at 1:47 PM

Observer Online Report

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Demanding money from a wife solely for business purposes, without making it a condition or consideration of marriage, does not fall within the legal definition of "dowry," the High Court has observed.

Terming the case "fabricated and baseless," a single-judge High Court bench of Justice Md. Salim overturned a two-year rigorous imprisonment sentence and acquitted the convict, Md. Russel Uddin. The full text of the judgment was released on Sunday (October 11).

According to case records, Md. Russel Uddin married Ismat Ara Begum under Muslim personal law on February 23, 2016. On August 4, 2019, a dispute allegedly occurred at their rented house on Baitush Sharaf Mosque Road in Cox's Bazar, where Russel asked for Tk 1 lakh from his wife for his business. The prosecution alleged that when she expressed her inability to provide the money, she was assaulted with a wooden stick.

Following trial proceedings, the Cox's Bazar Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Tribunal-1 convicted Russel on November 15, 2023, sentencing him to two years of rigorous imprisonment along with a Tk 20,000 fine. The convict subsequently appealed the verdict before the High Court.

Upon a comprehensive review of the evidence and depositions, the High Court identified two key grounds for setting aside the conviction:

Legal Definition of Dowry: Under Section 2(j) of the Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Act, 2000, money or property can only be defined as "dowry" if it is demanded as a pre-condition or consideration of marriage.

The High Court noted that the complainant and prosecution witnesses explicitly testified that the money was requested for business operations. Consequently, the demand did not meet the legal criteria of dowry, and the prosecution failed to substantiate the charge.

Contradictions in Medical Evidence: In her deposition, the complainant testified that she sustained injuries to her right shoulder and back from the alleged assault. However, the attending physician's statement and the hospital's medical certificate documented injuries on her left shoulder.

The High Court ruled that this glaring discrepancy between oral testimony and official medical evidence rendered the physical assault allegation doubtful.

Finding the charges unsubstantiated and manufactured, the High Court set aside the Cox's Bazar tribunal's conviction order and fully acquitted Md. Russel Uddin.

-SA

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Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury

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