Dowry death: Mother-in-law, two others sentenced for life

A local court here today sentenced three women to life imprisonment after convicting them in the dowry torture and killing of a woman in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district.
Baripada Sessions Court judge Sudipta Acharya pronounced the punishment after holding the mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law of the woman guilty under section 498(A) (dowry torture), 302 (murder), 304 (death of a woman by causing injury) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.
The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 on each of the convicted women and another six months of jail in case of default in the payment.
The court pronounced the sentence while hearing the mysterious death of Sasmita Das, wife of Debabrata Das. Sasmita was allegedly killed by her in-laws on January 21, 2009. They were married in June, 2005.

The woman was subjected to both physical and mental torture by her in-laws, the deceased woman's father Dasaratha Sethi had alleged in the FIR.
Subsequently, four persons - Debabrata (husband), Manjulata (mother-in-law), Swarnalata and Sasmita (sisters-in-law) were arrested based on the complaint of the deceased woman's father.
However, the court today acquitted Debabrata Das as he was not present in the town on the day of his wife's death.
The woman's father had also alleged that though he had given Rs 1.55 lakh cash, besides gold ornaments and other household articles during the marriage, the in-laws continued to demand more as dowry.