HC acquits husband, mother-in-law for killing housewife

Granting benefit of doubt, the Bombay High Court has acquitted a 27-year-old man hailing from Niphad in Nashik district and his mother from the charges of murdering the former's wife by setting her afire.
The Court, while acquitted them, set aside the trial court's judgement of January 28, 2011, awarding them life imprisonment for the murder of Gayatri Khare.
A bench headed by Justice V K Tahilramani ordered the release of 27-year-old Kishore Khare and his mother Meerabai Khaire, observing that the prosecution had failed to establish the involvement of the duo in the crime.
The Court observed that the investigation officer had not recorded statements of other members of the family particularly Nana Khare who had taken the deceased to the hospital on April 13, 2009 when she suffered burn injuries.

The Court further noted that a doctor had said in his evidence that the cause of death of the victim could be either accidental or homicidal.
"We thus find that the prosecution had failed to establish that the appellants had set Gayatri on fire," said the bench in its judgement yesterday.

According to prosecution, police had recorded a dying declaration of the deceased in which she had stated that she was doused in diesel and set afire by her in-laws -- husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law and brother-in-law -- as she had failed to meet their dowry demands.
During the trial, husband and his mother were convicted while the other two were acquitted. Hearing the appeal of husband and his mother, the High Court also set free both of them by giving them the benefit of doubt.

The Judges noted that though the police officer, who had recorded dying declaration of the deceased, claimed he had asked the medical officer whether the victim was in a proper frame of mind to give a statement, he had not recorded this fact.
Moreover, the judges said, the dying declaration was silent on whether it was read over to the person who had given such statement and accepted it.
"In the circumstances, the dying declaration cannot be foundation for sustained conviction of the appellants", the judges observed.