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Journalism of Courage
A Delhi court has acquitted a man and four of his family members in a case of dowry death 12 years after they were accused of committing the offence. The court said prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Relying on a 14-year-old judgment of the Delhi High Court, Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Pahuja of Saket Court, in his order dated December 18, noted that “there is no presumption that every suicide committed by a married woman at her in-laws’ house or at her parents’ house has to be because she was suffering harassment at the hands of her husband or her in-law”.
Terming the testimony of the prosecution witnesses “tainted and blemished”, the court noted that there was a lack of “cogent evidence lead on record”.
The court was hearing a case against Yogesh Kumar and his relatives. Kumar and Madhu, the deceased, got married in February 2012. A few months later, she allegedly killed herself in September.
The prosecution alleged that “cruelty and dowry demand” of the family drove her to suicide.
However, the court rejected the testimonies of witnesses, including the woman’s mother, stating that these were marred by inconsistencies and improvements. The court also noted that in Madhu’s diary, not even a single allegation of dowry demand or causing harassment or cruelty had been made against the accused persons.
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