Brothers get life term for dowry death

Express News Service Posted online: Wed Dec 22 2010, 00:54 hrs

New Delhi : A Rohini court has awarded rigorous life imprisonment to the husband and brother-in-law of a woman for abetting her suicide through dowry demands.

The woman, Neha, was married to Rohit Kumar on November 17, 2005. A few months later, Rohit and his brother Rajesh Kumar began pressing her for various demands. At first, Neha’s father Chet Ram tried to fulfill the demands. When he could not provide the money, the brothers started to torture Neha.

Fed up with the regular beatings from the brothers, Neha hanged herself at her husband’s home on May 5, 2007, the police said. She was pregnant at the time of her death.

Seeking strict punishment, Additional Public Prosecutor Shiv Kumar submitted before the court: “She was harassed by her husband and brother-in-law. They regularly beat her up and she had no option but to end her life.”

Additional Sessions Judge Barkha Gupta ruled: “She was continuously pressurised for dowry. It amounts to cruelty under S 304-B of the IPC and both deserve strict punishment.”