Court acquits husband, in-laws of charge of cruelty for dowry after woman fails to depose

A court here has acquitted the husband and three in-laws of a woman of the charge of subjecting her to cruelty for dowry, as she did not depose before it despite having been granted several opportunities.

It observed that the Delhi Police’s investigation also did not find any incriminating evidence to substantiate the allegations.

Judicial Magistrate Karuna was hearing the case against the husband and three in-laws of the woman against whom the Moti Nagar police station had registered an FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 498 A (husband or his relative causing cruelty to a married woman) and 406 (criminal breach of trust).

In a recent order, the court noted that the complainant had levelled allegations against the accused of having subjected her to cruelty over dowry demands and misappropriated her ‘streedhan’.

Under the Hindu law, streedhan includes all movable, immovable property, gift etc. that a woman receives before her marriage, at the time of the wedding, during child birth and widowhood.

The court said, “The complainant and other witnesses chose not to appear before the court despite giving ample opportunities and were never examined before the court. In view of the same, the allegations imposed by the complainant remain unestablished.

“Further, no incriminating material was collected by the investigating officer (IO) during the investigation against the accused persons, which could establish the commission of alleged offences by the accused persons independent of the testimony of prosecution witnesses.” It acquitted all the four accused, while concluding that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the charges.