Father-son acquitted in harassment case

A father-son duo, tried on charges of torturing a housewife and forcing her to commit suicide here, have been acquitted by a local court after the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Thane District Assistant Sessions Judge P R Kadam before whom the trial was conducted, yesterday absolved the duo of the charges under section 498 A (husband or relative of husband of a womam subjecting her to cruelty), 306 (abetment to suicide) read with 34 (common intention) of IPC in the 2013 case in which the woman hanged herself after killing two of her minor children.

The prosecution had told the court that accused Asif Ali (32) and Kifayat Ali (75) lived with the victim Sabida (32) along with three children in Sundar Vihar housing society at Mira Road here.
After the birth of Asif and Sabida's second child, the father-son duo used to abuse her while she was pregnant with her third child in December 2012.
The duo also wanted to sell the house in which they lived to fund the marriage of Sabida's sister-in-law but the victim was against the proposal, the court was told.
The prosecution also alleged that Asif Ali was already married to another woman in 2003, a fact which he concealed from the victim whom he wedded in 2005.

As a result of alleged harassment and frequent quarrels between the couple, Sabida on August 3, 2013 drowned her two children in a water drum and later killed herself, it said.

The two children--Alia and Nooren--were both aged below six. The victim's third child--a boy--was watching cartoon on TV in another room on that day.
Advocate P S Mahimkar, appearing for the defence, dismissed the prosecution's version and said the father-son duo had no role in killing the children as well as the suicide.
He also argued that the FIR was registered by the parents of the victim about one-and-a-half months after the actual incident.

Mahimkar said the fact that the victim had "adamant behaviour" had come on record through an incident on the ill-fated day as when she was given Rs 5,000 by Asif to buy new clothes for Eid, against Rs 10,000 sought by her, she got annoyed and killed the children for which she was booked by the police under Section 302 of IPC.
The court, after hearing both the prosecution and the defence, acquitted the duo after giving them the benefit of doubt.