Delhi:
A Delhi court has sentenced a woman and her two sons to life imprisonment for burning alive her daughter-in-law for bringing insufficient dowry.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Dudeja awarded life term to the trio, saying that deterrent sentences are the need of the hour to curb rising crime against women.
"Deterrent sentence is called for in cases where the women are tortured and harassed and killed by the husband and the relatives of the husband," said the court in a recent order.
It convicted Seema's mother-in-law Kanta, her husband Vicky and brother-in-law Bunty, taking into account the victim's harassment and torture by them for bringing less dowry.
"I am of the opinion that prosecution has been able to prove that deceased was subjected to cruelty for dowry by the accused and all the three accused persons in furtherance of their common intention, poured kerosene oil over her and burnt her to death," the judge said, while also imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of the convicts.
The court convicted the trio, relying upon various dying declarations of Seema made before an executive magistrate and her parents in the hospital.
"On a careful scrutiny of all the four dying declarations, the court is of the conclusion that they are coherent and consistent and whatever is stated therein is an unalloyed truth...and free from any effort to induce the deceased to make a false statement," the court said.
The court gave its order in the case which dates back to March 2004, when victim Seema, married to Nangloi resident Vicky two years earlier, had been set ablaze by her in-laws at their West Delhi residence.
In her dying declarations, Seema had maintained that she had been set ablaze by her mother-in-law, husband and his brother for bringing insufficient dowry.
A day after the fateful incident, Seema had told the executive magistrate from her death bed in the hospital that all three were party to the brutal act of burning her. She had said that after being set ablaze, she rushed out of the house, where neighbours put off the blaze and took her to hospital. She succumbed to her injuries on March 11.
Father of the victim had deposed in the court that after around six months of the marriage, Seema's husband and her in-laws had demanded a two-wheeler which he was unable to give. The trio, meanwhile, contended they were not present at the house at the time of the incident. They also said that there were contradictions in the dying declarations of the victim. The court, however, convicted them trashing their contentions.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Dudeja awarded life term to the trio, saying that deterrent sentences are the need of the hour to curb rising crime against women.
"Deterrent sentence is called for in cases where the women are tortured and harassed and killed by the husband and the relatives of the husband," said the court in a recent order.
It convicted Seema's mother-in-law Kanta, her husband Vicky and brother-in-law Bunty, taking into account the victim's harassment and torture by them for bringing less dowry.
"I am of the opinion that prosecution has been able to prove that deceased was subjected to cruelty for dowry by the accused and all the three accused persons in furtherance of their common intention, poured kerosene oil over her and burnt her to death," the judge said, while also imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of the convicts.
The court convicted the trio, relying upon various dying declarations of Seema made before an executive magistrate and her parents in the hospital.
"On a careful scrutiny of all the four dying declarations, the court is of the conclusion that they are coherent and consistent and whatever is stated therein is an unalloyed truth...and free from any effort to induce the deceased to make a false statement," the court said.
The court gave its order in the case which dates back to March 2004, when victim Seema, married to Nangloi resident Vicky two years earlier, had been set ablaze by her in-laws at their West Delhi residence.
In her dying declarations, Seema had maintained that she had been set ablaze by her mother-in-law, husband and his brother for bringing insufficient dowry.
A day after the fateful incident, Seema had told the executive magistrate from her death bed in the hospital that all three were party to the brutal act of burning her. She had said that after being set ablaze, she rushed out of the house, where neighbours put off the blaze and took her to hospital. She succumbed to her injuries on March 11.
Father of the victim had deposed in the court that after around six months of the marriage, Seema's husband and her in-laws had demanded a two-wheeler which he was unable to give. The trio, meanwhile, contended they were not present at the house at the time of the incident. They also said that there were contradictions in the dying declarations of the victim. The court, however, convicted them trashing their contentions.
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