New Delhi, April 03: A man along with three members of his family was acquitted of charges of driving his wife to commit suicide by harassing her for dowry by a Delhi court for want of evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar acquitted South Delhi resident Rakesh Gupta, his father, mother and brother of charges of driving Premlata to commit suicide.
“There is no evidence that she was subjected to any cruelty so as to drive her to commit suicide or any injury to her life, limb and health and there is no evidence to show that soon before her death, she had been subjected to any cruelty or harassment on account of demand of dowry,” the judge said.
Gupta, a resident of Dakshinpuri in south Delhi, was married to Premlata alias Nilesh on April 27, 2009. The bride, however, allegedly hanged herself to death at her matrimonial house on October 12, 2009.
The police registered a case against Gupta and his family members after the father of the deceased alleged that his daughter was being harassed by her husband and his relatives for dowry.
Later, during the trial, he deposed in the court that his daughter faced no problem, including any demand for dowry after the marriage. The only problem was that her husband was not doing any job, he told the court.
Another person, who had brokered the marriage, had earlier told the police that a few days before the incident, Premlata had told him that Rakesh and her in-laws were harassing her demanding a car.
But, while deposing before the court, he said Premlata had not told her specifically as to when the demand for the car was made or when the accused persons had harassed her for dowry. He, eventually, retracted his statement during his cross-examination.
The court held that the prosecution had “failed to prove that the deceased was subjected to cruelty or harassment by the husband or his relatives; that the cruelty or the harassment had nexus with the demand for dowry and such cruelty or harassment has been caused soon before her death.”
——–PTI