Meerut court gives life term to four family members in 11-yr-old dowry murder case

A district court in Meerut sentenced four individuals, including the husband, brother-in-law, and mother-in-law of a woman, to life imprisonment in connection with an 11-year-old dowry death case. The 30-year-old woman, a mother of two, was burnt alive over a dowry dispute.

Additional district government counsel (ADGC) Vaibhav Kumar said, “The Additional District and Sessions Judge (Court No 4) on Friday sentenced four convicts—brother-in-law Aslam, mother-in-law Momina, husband Nadeem, and Shabana (wife of Aslam), all residents of Momin Nagar, Fatehullapur in the Lisadi Gate police station area—to life imprisonment. Each convict was also fined ₹3,000.”

The case dates back to November 24, 2013, when Rukhsana was set on fire using kerosene after her family failed to meet the accused’s demand for a car as dowry.

Her brother, Irfan, complained to the Lisadi Gate police station, leading to an FIR (first information report) under Sections 498A (cruelty by husband or relatives), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with Sections 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.

However, following Rukhsana’s death, the charges were amended to include Section 304B/34 of the IPC (dowry death), while Sections 307 and 323 were dropped.