A man, along with his 62-year-old father, has been sent to two years in jail for subjecting his wife to cruelty to compel her to bring dowry in 2001 by a Delhi court.
Metropolitan Magistrate Ekta Gauba awarded the jail term to 42-year-old Sanjeev and his father Sube Singh saying the woman's husband wrongfully misappropriated some of the 'istridhan' articles and did not return them to the victim.
It directed both the convicts, residents of Muzzafarnagar in UP, to pay Rs 5,000 each as compensation to the victim.
"Both the convicts, Sube Singh being the father-in-law of the victim and Sanjeev being the husband of the victim, in furtherance of their common intention, subjected the victim to cruelty in order to compel her to meet their unlawful demand for dowry.
"Convict Sanjeev... Also wrongfully misappropriated some of the istridhan articles of the victim and did not return the same to her despite the same being demanded by her," the court said and also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 each on them.
"In view of the fact that harassment of women for demand for dowry is increasing in today's scenario and in view of the facts and circumstances, both the convicts Sube Singh and Sanjeev do not deserve the benefit to be released on probation therefore, their applications for release on probation are dismissed," the magistrate said.
After conviction, the victim was called to appear in the court where she stated that she has taken divorce from Sanjeev and has got re-married. She told the court that she would not compromise with the convicts and sought her istridhan articles back.
She also said both the convicts should be punished for their offences and sought compensation from them.
According to the prosecution, a complaint was lodged by the woman's father during subsistence of her marriage that his daughter was subjected to mental and physical cruelty by Sanjeev, Sube Singh and other family members for non- fulfilment of their dowry demands.
