The Calcutta High Court has upheld the conviction and life sentence of a man for killing his wife, who used to be tortured by him, for her dark complexion.
The woman was married to the convict Mazidul Miah for seven months before she was found hanging from the ceiling of their room in her matrimonial home in June, 1998 in Cooch Behar district.
The court noted that the victim's father, a man of meagre means, had given Rs 11,000, silver ornaments, a cycle and other valuables to the bridegroom during the marriage on October 16, 1997.
A division bench comprising justices Sahidullah Munshi and Subhasis Dasgupta noted that after she came to her matrimonial house, the victim was subjected to cruelty, oppression and ill-treatment by her in-laws, including her husband, "for her black complexion."
On several occasions, the woman reported the torture and beating meted out to her by her husband to her parents when she used to visit her paternal home.
But the father, who is the complainant, had persuaded her to go back to her husband in view of his weak financial condition, the bench noted.
Dismissing the convict's appeal, the division bench, in an order passed on June 25, upheld the conviction and life sentence granted to Mazidul Miah by the Coochbehar sessions court for murdering his wife under Section 302 (punishment for murder) and also for torturing her under Section 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code.
The bench upheld the conviction of the woman's mother-in-law on charges of torturing her, but acquitted her of conviction and life sentence for murder.
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