New Delhi: A Delhi court recently acquitted a man and his family members 12 years after they were accused of causing a dowry death.
The court of additional sessions judge Vishal Pahuja took note of tainted and blemished testimonies of the witnesses and lack of cogent evidence. There is no presumption that every suicide committed by a married woman has to be because of harassment, it stated.
The court was hearing a case against the husband, Yogesh Kumar, and his relatives, which was registered at the Malviya Nagar police station. “The prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt,” said the court while acquitting the accused persons.
According to the prosecution, Kumar married Madhu in Feb 2012, and she was driven to die by suicide by hanging “because of cruelty and dowry demand” within a few months in Sept.
The court, however, rejected the testimonies of crucial witnesses, including the woman’s mother, three brothers and sister, saying these were marred by “inconsistencies, improvements and bald allegations”. “There are substantial improvements in the statements made by the prosecution’s star witnesses before the court which have a damaging effect and as they are not part of the previous statements, such testimonies do not inspire the confidence of the court, hence cannot be relied upon,” it stated further.
The court noted that in the deceased’s diary, there was not even a single allegation of demand of dowry or causing harassment or cruelty against the accused persons, nor did she, in her suicide note, hold anyone responsible for her death. The arguments of the complainant’s lawyer need to explain why she died by suicide, it said.
The court added that the accused persons were not obliged to explain the reasons, especially when the prosecution failed to establish the foundational facts of the case.
Citing a 2010 verdict of Delhi High Court, the judge said that there was no presumption that every suicide committed by a married woman at her in-laws’ house or at her parents’ house had to be because she was suffering harassment at the hands of her husband or her in-laws.
The court further stated, “It is a well-known maxim that the men may speak lies but the circumstances do not…The only fact of unnatural death in the matrimonial home within seven years of marriage was not in itself sufficient to bring home the charges against the accused persons”.
