Ghaziabad: Two members of a family were acquitted in an eight-year-old dowry death case after the prosecution failed to prove that the defendants’ actions caused the woman’s suicide. Additional sessions judge Dinesh Chandra Shukla on Tuesday exonerated woman’s husband Laxman Singh and her mother-in-law Bina Singh, as death of the woman in 2018 was found to be suicide in the absence of any family member. The woman’s father-in-law died during the case proceedings and charges against him were dropped subsequently in the case. The court said the prosecution failed to prove, through any direct or circumstantial evidence, that the murder of the deceased was caused by the accused and that cruelty was inflicted on her immediately before her death due to dowry demands, therefore providing no merit to the charges of IPC sections 498A/34 (cruelty by a husband or his relatives against a married woman), 304B/34 (dowry death), and Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, with the alternative charge under IPC Section 302/34 (murder with common intent).The case was registered following a complaint lodged by Loni resident Hariom Singh on Nov 16, 2018, against eight members of his daughter Priya’s matrimonial family, a day after her death. Hariom said his daughter was married on April 27, 2018, after paying a dowry of Rs 6 lakh, but soon after, she was tortured by her in-laws who were demanding a car. He said he gave them Rs 50,000 and expressed the inability to meet further demands.The prosecution presented 10 witnesses, including three family members of the plaintiff and a neighbour, while the defence produced three witnesses, all neighbours. The case took a new turn after the deceased’s mother and sister refused the prosecution’s dowry death claim. Priya’s mother Rajvati Singh said her daughter was ill-tempered and could have died by suicide. Her statement was corroborated by Anita, who also said that her sister never complained about ill-treatment at her matrimonial home. In addition, she claimed to have no information about her father giving Rs 50,000 to the defendants. Both witnesses were declared hostile by the prosecution.The doctor, who performed the autopsy, confirmed Priya’s death was due to hanging and not strangulation. He also said there were no injury marks on the body sustained before death.The defence witnesses clarified that the deceased used to live with her husband Laxman, whereas her in-laws lived separately in rented accommodation.Though the court agreed that unnatural death within seven months of marriage made it a fit case to be tried for dowry, citing a Supreme Court judgement, it added: “The presumption under Section 113-B will apply when it is established that soon before her death, the woman was subjected to cruelty or harassment for any demand for dowry. Therefore, the prosecution must establish that the deceased was subjected to cruelty or harassment for any demand of dowry soon before her death. Unless these facts are proved, the presumptions under Section 113-B of the Evidence Act cannot be invoked.”
