Court grants bail to cop accused of abetting wife's suicide

A police official, accused of torturing and compelling his wife to kill herself, has been granted bail with a Delhi court observing that there was an unexplained delay of around two months in lodging an FIR against him.

Additional Sessions Judge Prem Kumar Barthwal granted the relief to the 31-year-old sub inspector on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the like amount with a direction that he would join the probe as and when required by the investigating officer.

The court also directed him not to leave the country without its permission and not to tamper evidence or influence witnesses in the case.

 

The order came on a plea of the accused in a domestic violence and abetment of suicide case lodged by his father-in-law against him in January 2018, over two months after the official's wife committed suicide in November 2017.

The court noted that immediately after the death of the woman on November 6, 2017, her father did not allege any ill-treatment by the accused to his daughter in a statement before the magistrate.

The court also relied on the submission of the accused that his wife took her life as she was depressed because she was suffering from polycystic ovarian disease.

In his plea seeking bail, the sub-inspector had said that he was happily married since April 2016 and had never demanded any dowry from his wife or her family.

The prosecution, however, said that the accused had made a demand of a car, a flat in Gurgaon and around Rs 15 lakh in cash and had inflicted injuries on his wife.

The accused denied all the allegations and claimed a false case was lodged by his father-in-law who concealed from him and his family the medical history of his wife.

He had said that his wife, who was undergoing medical treatment for infertility which resulted into depression, committed suicide while he was out of on official duty and this case was lodged only to humiliate and tarnish his family's reputation and to harm his job.

The court noted that in a statement given before a magistrate a day after the incident, the father of the deceased had stated that the victim was staying happily with the applicant and had never complained against her in-laws.