New Delhi: The scourge of dowry harassment continues to claim lives even in the 20th century, a Delhi court observed, noting that a young woman’s suicide ended not only her life but also that of the unborn child she was carrying. Her husband and mother-in-law were sentenced to 12 years’ rigorous imprisonment each for dowry death, with the court holding that continuous cruelty and persistent dowry demands had driven her to the extreme step.Noting that the deceased conceived within a month of marriage, Additional Sessions Judge Priya Mahendra held that “not only one life but two lives have been lost due to the conduct of husband and mother-in-law of the deceased.”The woman married Nitesh Kashyap on March 15, 2021, and died by suicide at her matrimonial home on June 3, 2021, when she was around 10 weeks pregnant. As per prosecutor Kamal Akhtar, she faced continuous cruelty and harassment over dowry, including demands for a more expensive motorcycle, Rs 30,000 for an air conditioner and gold articles for relatives after her pregnancy became known.Though the defence claimed that she was involved in an infidel relationship, the court rejected the contention, holding that questioning her fidelity over her friendship with a male friend was the “last straw” for the woman, who was “already bearing the brunt of harassment for dowry, which eventually pushed her to the wall and drove her to commit suicide.”The court found a “live nexus” between her death and dowry-related cruelty, observing that her “hopes of being welcomed with love and affection in her matrimonial home were shattered by the convicts only for the greed of dowry. Her pregnancy didn’t even melt their hearts, as she was deprived of proper food despite her early pregnancy.”Decrying the persistence of dowry deaths, Judge Mahendra said, “It is very unfortunate that the scourge of dowry harassment deaths is still prevalent in our Indian society in the 20th century, and women leaving their parents’ house after marriage are not spared by their husbands and their in-laws only on account of the inability of her parents to meet the expectations of dowry of husband and in-laws.”Holding that the mother-son duo didn’t deserve any mercy, the court sentenced Nitesh and his mother, Meena, to 12 years’ rigorous imprisonment for dowry death.
