New Delhi, April 3 A Delhi court has acquitted a man and his family of all charges related to domestic cruelty and causing the death of his wife due to dowry within less than a year of marriage, pointing to text messages suggesting a long history of suicidal tendencies.
The messages referred to in the case were exchanged between the deceased wife and her friend.
Additional Sessions Judge Nipun Awasthi acquitted the accused, Daman Deep, Harpreet Singh, Amarjeet Kaur, and Milan Deep Kaur, of all charges under Sections 489A (cruelty by husband or in-laws towards wife), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 304B (dowry death), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"It has been proven that the accused persons cannot be held responsible for any conduct of cruelty or harassment towards the deceased, and it has also been proven that the deceased was troubled by negative feelings and suicidal tendencies," the court said.
"Therefore, this court finds that the prosecution has failed to prove its case, and the accused persons are not proven to have subjected the deceased to cruelty or harassment in relation to the dowry demand," the court said in its judgment dated March 30.
According to the prosecution, the deceased, Harinder Kaur, had been married to the accused, Daman Deep, since December 6, 2017. On the evening of February 16, 2018, Harinder hanged herself in her matrimonial home.
Since she died within months of the marriage, the executive magistrate conducted inquest proceedings. An FIR was then filed based on the allegations leveled by the deceased's mother against her husband, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law.
The deceased's mother alleged that her husband and in-laws used to harass her, demanding a dowry of Rs 10 lakh and a large vehicle. She also alleged that they did not allow the deceased to visit her parental home after marriage.
The defense argued that the deceased had suicidal tendencies and had exhibited them throughout her life. It was argued that her suicide was a result of these tendencies, not due to the conduct of the accused.
The Forensic Science Laboratory retrieved all data from the deceased's mobile phone and presented it as evidence in court. The court highlighted a few text messages between the deceased and her friend in April 2017 and July 2017, which clearly expressed suicidal tendencies even before her marriage.
"It has been found that the accused persons have successfully proven that the victim's psyche was such that it was driving her to suicide," the court said, highlighting messages indicating that the deceased felt unwanted since birth.
The court also noted that the deceased's messages showed that she had "no grievances" with her husband and in-laws.
"There is not even a hint of any dowry demand made from her or any cruelty or harassment committed on her by the accused," the court said.
The court also highlighted that all conversations between the deceased and her mother were "general inquiries about each other's well-being," with nothing in the conversations suggesting that she was subjected to cruelty by the accused.
The deceased's mother alleged that she had received a phone call from the deceased, informing her that she was being harassed for dowry. However, the court found that none of the messages sent that day by the deceased to her mother and her sister were indicative of such a conversation.
The court also relied on a conversation between the deceased and her friend two days before her death, which indicated that she felt like an unwanted child since her childhood.