Court directs man to care for in-laws, serve in shrine

A man, whose wife immolated herself after being harassed for her inability to bear a child, has been sentenced to 14-day rigorous imprisonment by a court here which asked him to take care of the emotional and medical needs of his in-laws.
Additional Sessions Judge Mridula V K Bhatia, in the order passed yesterday, held 35-year-old Rizwan Gani Noori guilty of harassing his wife for not being able to conceive.
Noori was married to Shagufta in 1999 but the couple did not have a child. Due to constant torture by Noori, Shagufta immolated herself in November, 2010, and succumbed to injuries in a hospital.

Noori was booked under sections 306 (Abetment of suicide) and 498A (Husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of IPC. However, the charges under section 306 could not be proved, thus leading to Noori's conviction under section 498A.
The convict was sentenced to 14 days of rigorous imprisonment. Having already served the imprisonment, he was directed to remain in custody till the rising of the court on the day.
The court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Noori, which would be given to his father-in-law within a fortnight of the order, failing which he would have to undergo further imprisonment for one month.

The convict was given the benefit of section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958.

"In addition, the convict is directed to visit the appellant (father-in-law) Prakash Pujari in Pune every fortnight for a period of four months from today and spend four hours attending to him and his wife, taking care of their emotional, medical and other needs," the court ordered.
"The accused is further directed to spend one hour every fortnight at the Noori Baba Dargah in Thane and clean the premises and water the plants there for a period of four months from today. He is directed to submit a report of his aforementioned work on the 1st and 15th of every month to this court till February 28, 2016," it said.

In the case of non-compliance, the convict would have to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 15 days, the judge said.