Man acquitted of dowry death, cruelty charges 10 years after wife's death in Delhi

New Delhi: A court here has acquitted a man of dowry death and cruelty charges, saying the prosecution had failed to prove the allegations against him.

Additional Sessions Judge Geetanjali was hearing a case against Govinda, who had been booked by the Pul Prahaladpur police station here in the case 10 years ago.

According to the prosecution, Govinda had got married to Maya in 2010.

Maya died under abnormal circumstances on August 30, 2014, they said.

The court, in a recent verdict, noted the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, including Maya's parents and relatives and said that no one had deposed about any specific dowry demand, nor did they testify about any cruelty or harassment by Govinda over dowry demand.

"The allegation made against the accused is vague without specifying the kind of cruelty. The case of the prosecution is that the deceased was harassed for non-fulfilment of the dowry demand. However, none of the witnesses deposed any specific date or time as to when and how the accused harassed the deceased," the bench said.

It said the medico-legal case (MLC) did not indicate any external injuries and the postmortem report also did not disclose that the deceased was subjected to violence immediately before her death.

"Rather the cause of death was opined to be postpartum septic shock, meaning she died due to the complication owing to child death, as per the postmortem report and subsequent opinion on the postmortem report also confirms the cause of death as shock due to septicemia," said the court.

The bench said the essential ingredients of the charges were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

"I am of the considered view that the prosecution has failed to prove that the deceased was subjected to harassment and cruelty in connection with the demand of dowry soon before her death by the accused," the judge said, acquitting the husband.