Mumbai: Refusing to show leniency to a 73-year-old wheelchair-bound woman suffering from cancer, a Mumbai sessions court has convicted and sentenced her to 7 years in jail for the 2014 suicide of her daughter-in-law following cruelty and harassment for dowry.Two sons of the woman, Ashiyakhatun Khan, including the 28-year-old victim’s husband, were sentenced to 10 years RI each. The trio was found guilty under IPC section 304-B, which can be invoked when a woman dies within seven years of marriage and had been harassed for dowry.The judge noted that the victim, Gulshan Aara, had died within three years of her marriage to Aziz Khan and the cruelty, humiliation and economic exploitation she had suffered at her husband’s house had been duly proved.While Ashiyakhatun Khan’s two sons, Aftab Khan, a cloth merchant, and Aziz Khan, who works for a private firm, were also awarded jail terms, her doctor son Ejaz Khan was acquitted for lack of evidence. The case against her husband, Maqsood Khan, was abated due to his death during trial.“The deceased’s family had already complied in part with the dowry demand, and, yet, she was driven to end her life due to relentless pressure. There are no mitigating circumstances warranting a reduction of sentence,” Judge S E Bangar said. The trio had been out on bail.Hours before her death, Gulshan Aara had called her mother at 11.30pm on Aug 2, 2014, and cried. She said her in-laws had threatened to throw her out of their home. Her mother promised to pick her up the next morning. Around 2.10am, the victim’s family received a call about her death at her matrimonial home in Govandi.After the judgment was pronounced, the judge directed the superintendent of Mumbai Central Prison, Byculla, to take Ashiyakhatun into custody to serve her sentence but also directed that she be admitted to the Prisoners Ward at J J Hospital as she was unwell.Ejaz had first informed police that the victim had hanged herself. Subsequently, an FIR was registered at Shivaji Nagar police station based on a complaint by the victim’s brother, Fariduddin Siddiqui. The harassment was reportedly over “insufficient” dowry and a further demand of Rs 4 lakh for a house, despite the victim’s family arranging Rs 1.7 lakh by mortgaging jewellery and transferring Rs 50,000.The judge noted Ashiyakhatun was unable to respond and make submissions on the point of sentence. Her lawyer urged the court to let her off with a fine. The maximum sentence in such cases is life imprisonment and maximum seven years.
