A 37-year-old man has been sent to five years in jail by a Delhi court for torturing his wife physically and mentally and abetting her to commit suicide for bringing less dowry.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar awarded the jail term to Rohini resident Sunil Yadav saying the prosecution has proved that due to his cruelty, his wife Poonam committed suicide. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.
"The wife of the convict had come into the matrimonial house with lots of dreams to establish a new world and fulfilment of all her dreams depend upon one person i.E her husband. Had he supported her, she could face every challenge put to her. But instead of supporting her to settle in her new home, convict tortured her mentally as well as physically.
"Trauma of the victim is reflected from her diary which she used to write when she was alive. Therefore, the act of convict is quite grave and he does not deserve any leniency," the court said, adding that it cannot lose sight that he has a 10-year-old son and it is his responsibility to look after him.
The court, however, acquitted Sunil's father Ved Prakash, mother Omwati, brother Satish and sister-in-law Sharmila of the charges of harassing the victim. It also acquitted Sunil and his family members of the charge of dowry death.
According to the prosecution, the woman was found dead in her matrimonial house in Rohini on May 22, 2005 after she committed suicide by hanging herself.
Poonam and Sunil got married in April 2003 and a boy was born to them. The victim's brother in the complaint said that they had given Rs 3.6 lakh for purchasing a car and other articles to Sunil and his family members at the time of marriage.
Thereafter, they also gave money to Sunil for purchasing house which was in Poonam's name, even then the in-laws used to harass her for bringing less dowry and inferior articles at the time of marriage.
The police had also recovered victim's diary from her house in which she had stated how her husband used to torture her physically and mentally. She had written that Sunil used to often beat her.
"Thus from the diary of the victim it is evident that accused used to torture the victim in every manner physical as well as mentally. He used to taunt her for bringing less and inferior kind of articles given in marriage and used to beat her, abuse her that she had gone into depression. Hence it is evident that the conduct of the accused Sunil was driving her towards suicide," the court said.
The court rejected the submissions of Sunil that he had not tortured his wife and she committed suicide as she was unable to face pressure of multi-tasking.
