New Delhi, 7 April 2025(Punjab Khabarnama Bureau): A Delhi court has acquitted a man accused of subjecting his wife to cruelty and harassing her for dowry which allegedly drove her to kill herself in June, 2014.
Additional sessions judge Sachin Sangwan said the prosecution was unable to prove the case against the husband beyond a reasonable doubt.
The allegations of dowry, the court said, levelled by the woman’s father “deviated from normal human conduct”.
The order referred to the father’s deposition, where he reportedly said no demand of dowry was raised before or at the time of his daughter’s engagement, and she returned to her parents’ house six months after the marriage, where she stayed for about five months, when she did not allege facing any harassment for dowry.
“By normal human conduct, it appears surprising as to how suddenly a huge dowry demand was raised when no demand was raised prior to the marriage or soon after the marriage,” the court said on April 4.
Finding “improvements and variations” in the father’s statements, the court underlined the lack of corroboration on the principal facts constituting the allegations.
“In normal circumstances, if complainant was facing dowry demands and was unable to meet the same and even his daughter was being harassed on account of such demand, in all likelihood, he would have shared his predicament with his other family members, i.e, his real brother and nephew ,” it noted.
However, the non-mentioning of such demands by these witnesses discredit the testimony of the complainant regarding the alleged demand, the court added.
The chargesheet indicated to the court the couple’s disputes were due to the man being unemployed as it was improbable the in-laws harassed the woman during her brief stay at the matrimonial home.
The versions of some relatives of the deceased were based on hearsay and not credible, the court held.
“Therefore, even though the marriage of the accused and deceased is not disputed and the unnatural death within seven years of marriage has also been proved, the dowry demands and consequent harassment has not been proved by the prosecution beyond unreasonable doubts,” the order said.
The man was booked under Sections 304 B and 498 A of IPC.
Summary: Delhi court acquits man of dowry death and cruelty charges due to lack of evidence.