Husband, mom-in-law acquitted in dowry death case

The court said the prosecution has failed to prove that the victim was harassed by her in-laws for dowry and also pulled up the Delhi police for conducting its investigation in the case in a "half-heartedly and predisposed manner."

"In view of the evidence, I hereby hold that the death of the deceased was suicidal," Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said.

"I am pained to observe that the investigation has been conducted in most half-heartedly and predisposed manner. There are many unanswered questions on the sequence of events leading to the death of the deceased.

"Whether the deceased decided to end her life on account of harassment caused by her in laws or for any other reason, has not been conclusively established and clearly two views are possible," the court said.

The court freed Rohini residents Bhuvnesh Arora and his mother Krishna Arora of the charges of harassing and cruelly treating his wife Rajni Arora, who had flung herself to death from the seventh floor of a residential building at Pitampura in North West Delhi.

Bhuvnesh and Rajni, who was working at NASA laboratories, had married in February 2007 and she committed suicide in July 2007, three months after her marriage.

As per the medical reports, the victim had consumed alcohol before her death and the doctor had deposed that Rajni was not habituated to alcohol.

According to the prosecution, the woman's husband and mother-in-law used to demand money from her parents and they also ill-treated her when their demands were not fulfilled. (More)