Court acquits man from case of abetment to wife’s suicide

A Mumbai court acquitted a man accused of abetting his wife's suicide, citing lack of evidence and claims of false implication.

MUMBAI: The Dindoshi sessions court has acquitted a 25-year-old construction worker from Kandivali, who was accused of abetting the suicide of his wife, by physically and mentally harassing her. The court acquitted him for want of evidence.

Court acquits man from case of abetment to wife’s suicide

The complaint was lodged at the Kandivali police station by the father of the deceased woman, who had arranged the marriage of his daughter with the accused, Govind Gurkha, in 2011. On the morning of August 5, 2013, he received a phone call from his daughter at around 6pm, when she told him that her husband was beating her. At midnight, he received a call that his daughter set herself on fire on account of the harassment by her husband.

The couple, natives of Andhra Pradesh, had come to Mumbai a few years after marriage for construction work. They were living at a construction site in Kandivali, where the incident took place.

The defence submitted that the father-in-law of the accused implicated him in the case falsely as his wife wanted to marry someone else. The defence argued that since her father refused the marriage, she died by suicide.

The father of the victim deposed before the court that her daughter told him on phone that Gurkha was beating her regularly, and that he was continuously drinking and did not bring home any food items. On the night of her death, the father said, he got a call from his brother Basappa that his daughter died due to burn injuries from a fire.

The court observed that the father of the deceased did not visit her matrimonial house till her death. He never visited her in Bombay as well, said the court, adding that not a single complaint was lodged by the father regarding the allegations of harassment.

“There is no iota of evidence to show that accused committed the willful act with the deceased which constrained her to commit suicide or caused grave injury to herself,” observed additional sessions judge Ashwini Lokhande, in a detailed order passed on October 19.

Disposing the case, the court said, “Prosecution has miserably failed to prove the guilt of accused beyond reasonable doubts. Hence, accused deserves acquittal.”