A man, along with his sister and parents, has been found guilty of physically and mentally torturing his wife for dowry by a Delhi court which relied on the sole testimony of the victim, saying it remained “unscathed and unimpeached”. Metropolitan Magistrate Vandana, who sentenced the man to six months in jail while observing that being the husband it was his responsibility to make his wife comfortable, however, took a lenient view towards the woman’s in-laws and released them on probation.
“When a female gets married, then it is her husband who is trusted by her the most. After marriage, she joins new home where it is the responsibility of the husband to make her feel comfortable. But on the contrary, specific allegations of dowry demands have been proved against him.
“In these circumstances, I do not find it an appropriate to release him on probation,” the magistrate said while sending him behind bars.
While releasing the victim’s parents-in-law on probation, the court said, “The aged persons are stated to be suffering from old aged disease. The complainant has already remarried.
These facts calls for lenient view (towards them).”
The court, while relying on the victim’s sole testimony, said, “Merely the fact that the complainant is the sole witness, it does not render her testimony untrustworthy. Thus, in my opinion her testimony suffers no infirmity…and remains unscathed and unimpeached.”
According to the prosecution, the woman got married in January 2006 and the torture on her began within a few days.
In the complaint lodged in December 2006, she alleged her husband and in-laws physically and mentally tortured her and taunted her for bringing insufficient dowry and other items.
They had pressured her to arrange huge amounts of cash on various occasions, it said, adding that she was beaten up and locked in a room on refusing to do so.
It further said that on September 17, 2006 she was thrown out of her matrimonial house by her father-in-law.
All the accused were named in the charge sheet for the offences under sections 498A(subjecting woman to cruelty), 406 (criminal breach of trust) read with 34 (common intention) of the IPC.
During the trial they denied the allegations and said that it was a false and fabricated case against them
