New Delhi: A court acquitted two women of charges of cruelty and causing dowry death, observing that they proved that they were falsely implicated in the case.A case was registered by one Meena, who alleged that her daughter Sushmita alias Sonam was tortured by mother-in-law Rekha and sister-in-law Kanchan for dowry, pushing her to kill herself on July 22, 2022. Badarpur police station registered a case under IPC sections 498A (cruelty by a husband or his relatives towards a married woman) and 304B (dowry death).The court of additional sessions judge Sheetal Chaudhary Pradhan on June 2 said Meena did not depose against the accused persons in terms of the complaint that they demanded dowry, following which she was declared hostile. The judge noted that the statements of the deceased’s husband and father-in-law and her brother did not support the prosecution’s story and their depositions were discarded as being unreliable.The court observed that the Forensic Science Lab report regarding the data retrieved from the mobile phone of the deceased showed she was in touch with one Adarsh Mishra, with whom she had shared an emotional bond. The judge noted that Mishra told the court that he had got to know Sushmita via social media, met her on several occasions and even spoke to her soon before her death, but she never complained about any kind of cruelty committed by the accused, Mishra said.The court said that according to the postmortem report, there were no external injuries on the body. “Further, the deceased did not leave any suicide note, which could imply that she was subjected to cruelty,” it added. All the other witnesses examined by the prosecution also didn’t mention any incident that could mean that the deceased was subjected to any kind of dowry demand, the court said, adding that the family members’ claim regarding the demand of a gold chain was vague. The prosecution also failed to establish the guilt of the accused, it pointed out.
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