Man, mom get life term for murder despite victim’s family turning hostile

Agra: A court in Hathras has sentenced a man and his mother to life imprisonment for the murder of his 21-year-old wife in Oct 2023, even as the woman's family turned hostile during the trial. The court of district and sessions judge Vinay Kumar also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of the convicts, said district govt counsel Vishwas Bahadur Pundir on Sunday.The case dates back to Oct 20, 2023, when the deceased's father, Bablu, a resident of Etah district, lodged a complaint accusing Bobby Kumar, 25, a daily wager from Nagla Kachhi village in Hathras, and his mother, Sunita Devi, 50, of killing his daughter Poonam. He said Poonam married Bobby in 2020 and was allegedly harassed over dowry soon after.On that fateful day, Bobby took Poonam from her parental home to his house. Later that evening, Bablu received information about her death. Police were informed and a postmortem confirmed that she had died of strangulation.A case was registered against Bobby and his mother under sections 496-A (physical/mental abuse and harassment to force the woman or her relatives to meet unlawful demands for property or valuable security), 304-B (dowry death) of IPC and section 3/4 Dowry Prohibition Act. The accused were arrested and sent to jail.The DGC said during the trial, the deceased's parents did not support the prosecution and turned hostile. "However, the court relied on the postmortem report and the investigation findings to hold it a case of murder. The court convicted Bobby and Sunita under section 302 (murder) of IPC on Saturday. It acquitted them of dowry death and other charges," he said.