A man accused of torturing his wife under the influence of alcohol for dowry has been acquitted by a Delhi court, which said that just because he was an alcoholic, he could not be held guilty of abetment to suicide.
"Even if I assume that accused was alcoholic such fact, by itself, cannot tantamount to abetment. Such habit of accused is not sufficient to constitute abetment of suicide...," Additional Sessions Judge Manoj Jain said.
The court granted the benefit of doubt to the accused, a resident of Rohini in north-west Delhi, saying as per the prosecution story there was nothing on record to indicate any foul play.
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"In view of the unsupportive testimony of the victim's mother, I am left with no option but to grant benefit of doubt to accused," the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the accused was an alcoholic and used to beat his wife over the issue of dowry.
It said that on the intervening night of January 7-8 last year, the accused was hospitalised but found consuming liquor there also which infuriated his wife, who returned home angry and hanged herself.
The accused was charged for the offences under sections 498 A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 304 B (Dowry death) of IPC. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
He had submitted that he has been falsely implicated but agreed to the fact that he was a habitual drinker.
In order to constitute the offence of abetment (sec 306 of IPC), the judge said that it is not what the woman felt but what the accused intended by such conduct which is significant.
The court also observed that entire case of prosecution was dependent upon the testimony of victim's mother as she was the solitary witness who had come up with crucial allegations.
"To the utter dismay of prosecution, woman's mother has not supported the case of prosecution... She also testified that main reason behind the quarrel between the accused and his wife was the drinking habit of accused," the court noted.
