5 of family let off in dowry death case

The sessions court on Monday acquitted five members of a family accused of allegedly killing a woman for dowry after the defence pointed out several loopholes in the case.

The sessions court on Monday acquitted five members of a family accused of allegedly killing a woman for dowry after the defence pointed out several loopholes in the case.

HT Image

On February 18, 2008, Ramesh Gupta (29), his father Gangadhar (55), mother Sudama (45), brother Dinesh (33) and Dinesh's wife Sunita (30) allegedly poured kerosene on Ramesh's wife Sangita and set her on fire because she did not meet their dowry demands.

Sangita was taken to Masina hospital and she succumbed to her injuries on February 28, 2008. The RCF police said that in her dying declaration, Sangita accused her husband and his family of setting her on fire and they filed a case of harassment and murder against them.

In court, the prosecution examined 10 witnesses to prove their case. One of them said Ramesh and Dinesh tried save Sangita and took her to hospital. Defence lawyer Vijay Desai said if the family wanted to kill her they would not have taken her to hospital.

He said Sangita’s two children, who were present at the time of the incident, were not examined by the prosecution. Desai submitted in the court certificates by the medical in-charge, which stated that the victim was not medically fit to give any statement at the time when the police had taken her statement.