The Hindu : New Delhi News : Three sentenced to life for dowry death

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 01, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Three sentenced to life for dowry death

NEW DELHI, JULY 31. A private company executive and his parents have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a city court for causing the death of his wife within four months of marriage after subjecting her to extreme cruelty due to dowry demands.

``For two-and-a-half months Meena (the deceased) was kept as a slave at her matrimonial house... she was abused in filthy language, beaten, forced to do menial jobs and was not provided with proper food... she was not allowed even to pay a customary visit to her parental home'', Additional Sessions Judge R K Yadav noted.

``Extreme form of cruelty was meted out to Meena by her husband and in-laws (Sanjiv, his father Kuljit Singh Saxena and his mother Bimla). They made her feel that there was no way out for her except to embrace death,'' the court said and asked the convicts to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each.

The court also castigated the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case, Kashmiri Lal, saying he conducted the probe into the matter in a ``haphazard manner'' and was ``not sincere''.

Lal admitted that he got the case diaries recorded by persons not concerned with the investigation, the court said.

However, since the material facts were collected by the Sub Divisional Magistrate, any illegality or impropriety on the part of the IO did not destroy the case of the prosecution, the court added.

Meena married Sanjiv on November 30, 2001 and she was found hanging at her in-laws house in Uttam Nagar on April 19, 2002.

Sanjiv and his parents had asked Rs 50,000, household articles and clothes as dowry. - PTI

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