10-Year Jail For In-Laws In Dowry Death Case: Court Convicts Mother-in-Law, Sons For Abetting Woman’s Suicide

The Sessions Court convicted a 73-year-old mother-in-law and her two sons, including the deceased’s husband, for abetment to the suicide of a 28-year-old woman and sentenced them to 10 years of imprisonment. The woman, Gulshan Ara, died by hanging in her matrimonial home in 2014 after enduring years of dowry harassment.

Despite partial dowry payments totalling Rs2.2 lakh against a Rs4 lakh demand, Ara faced continuous cruelty from her in-laws. The court sentenced the deceased’s mother-in-law, Ashiyakhatun, to seven years, with immediate hospital care due to her frailty, and gave the husband and brother-in-law ten years each.

On the night of August 2, 2014, Ara quarrelled with her sister-in-law, Sarvari Khatoon, and at 11.30pm, made a distress call to her mother from her husband’s phone, crying and complaining about the harassment by her in-laws. The prosecution claimed that it was only after this fight that Ara decided to end her life.

The court said, “The call expressing distress forms a critical link in establishing the ‘soon before death’ condition under Section 304-B (dowry death) IPC.”