Kolkata: Due to lack of evidence, Calcutta High Court on Sunday acquitted a Murshidabad murder victim's husband and mother-in-law who were sentenced to life imprisonm-ent for the crime six years ago. The deceased was married to Ranjit Mondal for two years and had a nine-month-old daughter. She was found dead at her in-laws' place and her father filed the complaint on May 5, 2013, alleging Ranjit and his parents used to demand dowry and killed her on May 5, 2013. A charge sheet was filed against Ranjit and his parents on June 10, 2014.
During the legal proceedings, the father-in-law passed away, and the mother-in-law, Sabitri Mondal, was convicted along with Ranjit by the Additional Sessions Judge in 2019.
The convicts' counsel, Soumajit Das Mahapatra, argued that "no clear and convincing evidence" was shown against the husband and in-laws regarding dowry demands. It was highlighted that no one saw the convicts commit the crime. In fact, three prosecution witnesses' statements clarified that the husband, a private tutor, used to leave for work early. It was stated that the evidence indicated she was "murdered by throttling". However, the autopsy surgeon, in cross-examination, said he had no special degree in autopsy and was not a specialist in the field. The HC held, "...
then it is difficult to say the opinion of the autopsy surgeon is sacrosanct and the cause of death as indicated in the postmortem is to be sustainable. A large number of witnesses cited by the prosecution have been declared hostile and did not support the case of the prosecution, which indicates the absence of certainty in the prosecution case.
"The court noted while the victim's father said the accused used to assault her for not providing dowry, in his cross-examination, he said the marriage was solemnised without dowry.