New Delhi: Fifteen years after the death of a woman, four men from her in-laws’ house, including her husband, have been convicted by a Delhi court for dowry death and cruelty.
The court was hearing the case against the deceased’s husband Pawan Kumar, mother-in-law Satbiro, father-in-law Kaptan Singh and brother-in-law Daljit Singh.
According to the prosecution, Bharti was found dead under “unusual circumstances” on October 3, 2007, within one-and-a-half years of her marriage.
Additional Sessions Judge Gautam Manan said in a recent order, “The prosecution has been successful in proving its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused persons…” They are convicted under sections 498A (husband or relative of husband to woman by husband or relative of husband), 304B (dowry death) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The court listed the matter for hearing on January 30. The court, however, acquitted the accused of the charge of murder and destruction of evidence.
The court said though the investigating officer added the offence of murder after receiving the postmortem report, he did not conduct any inquiry to ascertain the “link of murder”.
The court noted that as per the postmortem report, the woman died due to suffocation, but the investigating officer did not conduct any inquiry to ascertain how she got choked. An FIR was lodged at Dwarka police station in Delhi.