Delivering the verdict, Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal said, “The matter of dowry death... is becoming graver day by day. Dowry deaths are a shame on our society and the evil is a matter of serious concern for everyone.”
The judge added, “In cases like the present one, the courts are under a bounden duty to award sentence which has a deterrent effect on the society and sends a message across that people are ingested with lust for dowry shall not be spared.”
The convicts — Pankaj Kumar, Sunaina Devi and Babita — are residents of Mauli Jagran.
Rinku, 23, had married Pankaj Kumar on May 10, 2009. As per a complaint by the brother of the deceased, two months after the marriage, Rinku’s husband, Sunaina Devi, her mother-in-law, and Babita, her sister-in-law, started beating her and demanding dowry.
Unable to meet their demands, Rinku’s brother received a call at 1 pm on July 27, 2010, saying that Rinku was not well and had been admitted to PGIMER. At 6 pm again, he received a call saying that Rinku had died. The doctors there said she had eaten some poisonous substance due to which she died.
However, Rinku’s brother made a complaint to the police that her sister had been killed as he was unable to provide her in-laws dowry. The accused were arrested on July 27, 2012 and tried by the court.
The accused pleaded that while Sunaina Devi was a senior citizen and suffering from many aliments, Babita was married and was undergoing some treatment, and Pankaj was the only earning member of the family.