A Delhi court has awarded three years’ rigorous imprisonment to a 30-year-old man for subjecting his wife to domestic violence for money in Rohini in north-west Delhi in 2016.
The victim had died by hanging. However, the court acquitted her husband of the dowry death charge.
“It is held that the prosecution has failed to prove charge under Section 304B IPC against accused Pradeep and hence he is acquitted of the said offence,” the court. Pradeep’s mother was also an accused but the court acquitted her also.
The police had registered the case on the complaint filed by the mother of the victim where she alleged that her son-in-law had started harassing her daughter just two months after the marriage in 2014.
Parents’ testimony
Evidence by the victim’s parents proved crucial in the conviction of accused Pradeep.
“The testimony of the victim’s parents has remained intact on all material points. There is no major discrepancy in their statement. They have spoken clearly and cogently about demand of money by accused Pradeep through their daughter and they have stood firm in their cross-examination. The defence has not been able to impeach their creditability or shake their veracity. Their testimony is reliable, truthful and sufficient to bring home the guilt of accused Pradeep,” Additional Sessions Judge Deepak Garg said.
“In view of the above, it is proved that the victim was being subjected to cruelty in her matrimonial house and she was harassed with a view to coerce her and her parents to meet the said unlawful demand of money within the meaning of Explanation [b] of Section 498 A IPC and hence, accused Pradeep is convicted for the offence under Section 498 A IPC,” the judge said.
Lenient punishment
Counsel for the accused urged the court to award a lenient punishment on the grounds of his young age and the burden on him to take care of his mother and siblings but the court rejected it.
“The fact that convict Pradeep is aged about 30 years and that he does not have any previous criminal antecedents are the mitigating circumstances but the court cannot lose sight of the fact that he treated his wife with cruelty and harassment within the meaning of Section 498 A Explanation [b] IPC as a result of which his wife,” committed suicide within one-and-a-half years of marriage,” the judge said.