Man freed from charges of abetting wife’s suicide

“Unfortunately in our country particularly in the society to which the victim and the accused belong,the birth of a female child is not as welcome and there is a clamour for a male child where if a woman is unable to bear a boy.

“It is she herself who creates a complex within herself more than anybody else and suffers the guilt of not bearing a male progeny to continue the family lineage and for any normal discord she assigns this as a reason for the same,” the court said.

ASJ Lau acquitted North-West Delhi resident Om Prakash,saying that to make him liable for the death of his wife,there should be enough evidence “to prove that he had the intention to provoke,incite or encourage the victim to commit suicide so that he could remarry for a male child.”

“In a conventional Indian social system,particularly to which the victim belonged,with an abusive alcoholic husband and the deceased bearing three daughters and the possibility of her being taunted by the husband for not bearing a male child cannot be ruled out,thereby creating in her a perception of being persecuted for not bearing a male child which could be imaginary or real,” the court said.

According to prosecution,Om Prakash used to torture and harass the victim for not being able to bear a male child and she had committed suicide by hanging herself in her house in November.

The victim’s brother had lodged the case against the accused saying he was a drunkard,who used to beat his sister and taunt her for not bearing him a male child. He would tell her that had she died,he would remarry so that his family’s linage could proceed.

The court,while freeing Om Prakash,said the motive on his part was missing as even after four years of the death of his wife,three daughters which she had left behind are being taken care by him and his family.

It said there was no allegation that the victim’s in-laws harassed her and this showed that the dispute,if any,was only between the couple and it was a part of ordinary discord and differences of domestic life which is common to the society.

The judge also said that in majority of cases,the act of self-persecution leads to suicidal depression and they tend to believe that everyone else wants to hurt them in some way and such persons usually over-reacts to the perceived wrongs.