In a significant ruling, a local court has acquitted a man and his three family members of charges related to dowry cruelty after the complainant, his wife, failed to testify. The case, which was under scrutiny at the Moti Nagar police station, involved allegations of cruelty for dowry demands and misappropriation of the wife’s ‘streedhan’—a term that refers to a woman’s property received at various stages of her life as per Hindu law.
Judicial Magistrate Karuna presided over the trial, where it was noted that despite multiple opportunities, the complainant did not appear before the court to provide her testimony. This absence was pivotal as the court emphasized that the allegations remained unproven without her statement and that of other witnesses.
The court order highlighted, “The complainant and other witnesses chose not to appear before the court despite giving ample opportunities and were never examined before the court. In view of the same, the allegations imposed by the complainant remain unestablished.”
Additionally, the court observed that the Delhi Police’s investigation yielded no incriminating evidence against the accused. The investigating officer’s report failed to independently establish the commission of the alleged offenses, which led to the acquittal of the husband and his relatives.
