HC sets man free in dowry death case

The Delhi High Court has set aside a man's seven-year jail term in a dowry case involving the death of his sister-in-law, saying the evidence to prove his involvement in the victim's death was "scanty".
Allowing the appeal of V K Kalra, Justice S P Garg said, "The accusations attributed to Kalra were not sufficiently deep-seated or grave to constitute cruelty under Section 498A (subjecting a married woman to cruelty) of the IPC.
"The allegations that the appellant (Kalra) used to provoke her (victim's) in-laws do not amount to harassment with a view to coercing the deceased to meet an unlawful demand for any property or valuable security," Justice Garg said.

"The evidence is scanty and is not enough to prove appellant's complicity or nexus with the unnatural death."
The court also noted the prosecution did not examine any independent public witness to establish Kalra's involvement in the incident.
"The appellant (Kalra) had no direct confrontation with the deceased and at no stage, he threatened her to leave the matrimonial home or to bring dowry articles from her parents," the court said.

Kalra was on bail during the pendency of his appeal. The high court has discharged his bail bonds.
According to police, on July 12, 1989, an FIR for dowry death was lodged with Kirti Nagar police station after a woman had committed suicide in Ramesh Nagar area.

Victim's husband V K Chopra, parents-in-law R N Chopra and Subhashna Chopra and her sister-in-law's husband V K Kalra were arrested in connection with the case.
In July 2009, the trial court had convicted all the accused persons and sentenced them to two-year imprisonment under Section 498A of the IPC.
The court had also sentenced the victim's husband and father-in-law to 10 years in jail and handed seven-year imprisonment to the mother-in-law and sister-in-law's husband (Kalra) under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC.
The Delhi High Court had dismissed their appeals against the trial court's conviction.

The Supreme Court had also upheld the conviction of the victim's husband and parents-in-law but allowed Kalra's plea. It had sent the appeal back to the High Court in March 2009 for fresh consideration.