A man, along with his father and brother, have been sentenced to 10 years jail term by a Delhi court in a dowry death case in which his wife had died within a year of their marriage due to the torture meted out to her.
The court held the victim’s husband Ajay Kumar (33), her father-in-law Ramesh Chander (62) and brother-in-law Parveen Kumar (29), residents of Delhi, guilty for harassing, abusing, beating and starving her to death.
“The deceased (Meenakshi) was being harassed, tortured and beaten by the accused persons….Keeping in view the mitigating and aggravating circumstances in the present case, convicts are hereby sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and to pay Rs 10,000 each as fine for the offence punishable under section 304B/34 (dowry death/common intention) of the IPC,” Additional Sessions Judge Vijay Kumar Dahiya said.
Ajay’s mother, who was also arrested with the other family members for causing death of her daughter-in-law, died during the pendency of the trial.
Relying on testimonies of prosecution witnesses, the court observed that victim was reduced to a “skeleton” weighing 27 kg and her post-mortem report revealed that she had 19 external injuries and bruises on her body.
According to the prosecution, Meenakshi, who married Ajay in July 2010, was tortured and beaten by her in-laws since the inception of their marriage.
Ajay and her family members put pressurise on her to arrange Rs five lakh and a car for them and even refused to give her food leading to her death on May 16, 2011, it said.
The victim’s family had given them Rs two lakh but her in-laws continued to harass, starve and beat her for not bringing the remaining amount, the prosecution said.
The victim’s brother had also told the court that she was suffering from epilepsy and he had requested Meenakshi’s in-laws to get her treated, but they refused.