Man gets three years RI for abetting wife's suicide

A court at Thane in Maharashtra has sentenced a 40-year-old businessman to three years of rigorous imprisonment for abetting the suicide of his wife in 2012.

In his order passed on Wednesday, district judge R V Tamhanekar convicted Pravin Shetty, a resident of Kharigaon-Kalwa, and awarded the sentence.

The court, however, acquitted three others, including Shetty's brother and sister, from the case.

Prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale said the accused, who married Kirti in May 2012, used to come home drunk and torture her physically and mentally.

Kirti (30) used to complain to her parents about the frequent harassment by her husband. However, her parents would tell her to adjust as they were newly married. They would also ask Shetty not to harass her, the prosecutor said.

On July 29 (2012), she told her parents that it was impossible for her to live with her husband as he continued to harass her under the influence of liquor and suspected her character.

On the same day, her parents got a call from the accused saying his wife had left the house abruptly.

Next day, they received information from Thane Railway Police that one woman had committed suicide on the railway tracks at Kalwa in the district. The woman was later identified as Kirti.

After this, a case was registered against Shetty and three others under IPC sections 498 A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 306 (abetment of suicide) and 406 (criminal breach of trust).