Court acquits 4 in dowry death case

AURANGABAD: Additional sessions judge Uttam Telgaonkar acquitted four members of a family, including the husband, of the charges of dowry death of a woman citing inconsistency in the evidence whether it is murder or suicide.
Police said Kishor Sheshrao Bahirao, a farmer by profession and resident of Adgaon in Kannad tehsil of the district, was married Jyoti from Aurangabad on February 19, 2010.Less than a year later, Jyoti was found dead with 100% burn injuries at the house of her in-laws at Adgaon on January 31, 2011.
A day later, her brother Ravi Bhaginath Satdive filed a complaint alleging that his sister had committed suicide due to torture from her husband and his immediate family.
Based on the complaint, Kishor, his parents and uncle were booked by the Kannad police for domestic violence, dowry death, voluntarily causing injury, criminal intimidation and for intentional insult for causing breach of peace. In addition to this, sections of the Dowry Prohibition Act were also slapped on the accused. In the chargesheet, the police alleged that the accused had tortured the woman demanding Rs 1 lakh in cash or one acre land as dowry.
Defence lawyer Varsha Ghanekar Waghchoure pointed out to the court that the accused were at Lodhra in Nandgaon tehsil of Nashik district for onion plantation on the day of the incident.
“We pointed out to the fact that the deceased stayed in Aurangabad city till her marriage and was reluctant to stay in the village. She always insisted on shifting to city. The issue of shifting to the city resulted in to heated argument between the couple,” she said.
On hearing both the sides, the court ruled that Jyoti’s death was caused due to burns is a proved fact. It is not disputed by the accused. There is no probability of putting the deceased on fire by the accused persons because they were not present at the time of incident.
The court, in its order, stated that two possibilities could emerge. First, that it could be a suicide or it could be accident. “Deceased was alone at the house when the incident was happened. Only she could say how the incident happened but she is no more. Therefore, there is no other alternative except to draw an inference of happenings of accident from the facts and circumstances only,” the court noted.
Turning down the allegation of the accused demanding Rs1 lakh or one acre as dowry, the court ruled that as far as demand and cruelty is concerned, all the witnesses have made vague and general statements. “Nobody has stated any specific incidence of abusing, beating or demanding anything as alleged. Actually, all the five witnesses are not eye witnesses to any of the incidents,” the court noted.
Additional sessions judge Telgaonkar, while passing the order, concluded that prosecution has totally failed to establish its case beyond reasonable doubt. Therefore, the accused deserve to be acquitted.