Man jailed for 10 yrs for harassing wife, abetting her suicide

A Delhi court has sentenced a man to 10 years in jail for abetting suicide of his 19-year-old wife, who ended her life within a year of marriage after being fed up of physical torture meted out by him.
Holding that judiciary should have "zero tolerance" for such incidents, additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said 28-year-old convict Vikas Mehta does not deserve any mercy as he himself was the perpetrator of the physical violence upon his wife right from the beginning of their marriage.
Mehta was earlier booked for the offence of dowry death but the court converted it into abetment to suicide and also held him guilty for harassing his wife Neha. It also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on Mehta.

The court, however, acquitted Mehta's parents and sister of the charges of harassment and dowry death.
"These instances of young women choosing to end their lives soon after their marriage on account of harassment and torture are alarming and are increasing and if we want the society to be ridden of this growing evil, it is imperative that whenever a drastic crime of this nature is detected and the offence brought home to the accused, the courts should exercise zero tolerance for it and deal with the offender ruthlessly and impose deterrent punishment," the judge said.
The court noted that Mehta was involved in 18 criminal cases out of which he has been convicted in four cases.

It also made it clear that the sentence awarded to Mehta in this case should run consecutively to the punishment imposed on him.
According to the police, Mehta and Neha had married in November 2009 and he and his family started harassing her and after 13 days, the couple shifted to a rented house.
On November 15, 2010, the victim committed suicide and was found dead in her house and a case was registered against Mehta and his family, they said.