Thane engineer gets 10-year RI for dowry death of pregnant wife court cites injuries false claims

Thane, Nov 5 (PTI) A Thane court has sentenced a mechanical engineer to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for the dowry death of his pregnant wife in 2021, noting she was subjected to violence and harassment for money and a car.

    Injuries on her body and the accused’s failure to explain them corroborated witness accounts of assault, Additional Sessions Judge G T Pawar said in the judgment on Wednesday.

    The court held Indrajeet Jayrajrao Dawale (38) guilty under Sections 498A (cruelty) and 304B (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code and fined him Rs 15,000. It ruled that he was not entitled to the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act.

    It also ordered that the victim's "stridhan" (gold ornaments and other articles) be returned to her mother upon due verification.

    The victim, Megha, who was also a mechanical engineer working at a private firm, married the accused on July 23, 2017, Additional Public Prosecutor Manisha N Pawse told the court.

    On June 27, 2021, Megha, who was 14 to 16 weeks pregnant, was allegedly found hanging at their flat on Kolshet Road in Maharashtra's Thane city. She died on July 1, 2021, the prosecution said.

    The judge noted that multiple contusions on both her upper limbs and abrasions on her back and left cheek showed she had been subjected to physical violence shortly before the hanging. This provided objective medical corroboration of witnesses’ accounts that the accused assaulted her, the court observed.

    "Demanding Rs 7,50,000 from the wife and her parents for purchasing a car and satisfying property liabilities, while subjecting a pregnant woman to physical assault and emotional humiliation, constitutes an unlawful demand for valuable security. Even where a marriage begins as a love marriage, subsequent greed and monetary harassment are not precluded," it remarked.

    The court said the incident occurred in the privacy of the victim's matrimonial home, and facts especially within the knowledge of the accused must be explained by him.

    "The accused provided no credible explanation for the external ante-mortem contusions on Megha's body, nor for the circumstances leading to the incident," it noted.

    The court also found that his conduct afterwards showed an intent to conceal the truth. He first told Megha’s father and another witness that she had fallen in the bathroom. When her parents reached the hospital, he stopped them from seeing her, falsely claiming she had contracted COVID-19, the court said.

    "In balancing mitigating and aggravating factors, the court cannot overlook the nature of the crime," it stated.

    The victim was an educated woman subjected to sustained physical and mental harassment for money and a car during her pregnancy. The multiple ante-mortem injuries demonstrate physical violence against her, the judge observed.

    The accused is entitled to a set-off for the period of detention already undergone during the investigation and trial, the court added.

    The prosecution examined nine witnesses to prove the charges, Pawse said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)