Chandigarh: Husband to spend seven years in jail for dowry death

Nearly seven years after a woman in her late 20s was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her second-floor residence in Manimajra Complex, a local court on Wednesday sentenced her husband to seven years in prison after finding him guilty of dowry death.

The court of additional sessions judge Sonika sentenced Sukhant Chawla, 26, under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the death of his wife, Roma, while also imposing a fine of ₹10,000. The court acquitted three others in the case, including Sukhant’s brother Ekant Chawla, sister Megha Budhiraja and brother-in-law Anil Kumar Budhiraja.

The case was registered on June 18, 2018, at the Manimajra police station under Sections 304-B, 498-A and an added Section 302 (murder) of the IPC. As per the prosecution, police had received information on June 17, 2018, that Roma, who was married to Sukhant for 18 months, was found hanging from a ceiling fan. Her father had reported that Roma used to talk to her mother on how her in-laws had been abusing and beating her, demanding ₹2 lakh as dowry. He had then transferred the amount in Roma’s bank account in instalments.

After a few days, she came to his office and started crying, stating that her in-laws were now demanding ₹5 lakh and an Innova car. He stated that his daughter was repeatedly harassed by her husband and in-laws after he had told her that they will not be able to fulfil this demand. Police had then made the arrests.

The accused, in their statements in court, claimed Roma was happily married but was depressed as her parents were not on talking terms with her due to it being a love marriage, which they did not approve of as it was also an inter-caste marriage. They denied having made any demand for dowry.

While convicting Sukhant, the court stated that he used to torture his wife Roma, demanding dowry, and beat her when his demands were not fulfilled.

The court stated that the contention raised by defence counsel that the victim was depressed stood misconceived. “It was for the accused Sukhant Chawla to explain how the injuries appeared on her on the very night she died. It rather strengthens the stand of the prosecution,” the court said.

While acquitting the remaining three in the case, the court observed the prosecution had failed to establish the guilt of accused Ekant Chawla, Megha Budhiraja and Anil Kumar Budhiraja beyond shadow of doubt. Hence, they were acquitted of the charges framed against them.

Defence counsel advocate Terminder Singh said accused Megha was the sister of accused Sukhant, settled with her husband Anil Kumar Budhiraja in her matrimonial home.

Inspector Bahadur Singh, the investigating officer, stated that Ekant was also not residing in the house in question with the deceased. In such circumstances, the accused had no occasion to torture the deceased for dowry, he told the court. Hence, in the absence of any specific date, time and place for making the demand, the accused cannot be held guilty for torturing the deceased for dowry which further resulted in her death, he added.