New Delhi, A Delhi court has acquitted a man, his parents and another relative of charges of dowry death and abetment of suicide in connection with the death of a 20-year-old woman.
The court observed that the prosecution had failed to establish dowry-related harassment sufficiently proximate to her death, which was necessary to invoke the statutory presumption under the law. It said the prosecution failed to establish that the woman was subjected to dowry-related cruelty soon before her death or that the accused instigated her to take her own life, and to prove the essential ingredients of offences under IPC Sections 304B and 306 beyond reasonable doubt. In the October 31 order, the court said, “The prosecution failed to establish any mens rea or active or direct act on the part of the accused persons to instigate or aid in the commitment of suicide by the deceased. Consequently, the charge under Section 306 IPC cannot be sustained merely based on the unfortunate death of the deceased or the alleged matrimonial disputes.
