Nagpur court gives husband, mother-in-law and two others 10 years' rigorous prison for wife's suicide

The court of the Additional Sessions Judge-15 in Nagpur district has convicted four people of abetting the suicide of a married woman. The court sentenced all four to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 500 on each of the convicts.

The case falls under the Pardi police station area. The deceased was Nandini Dharam Sukhdan. Those sentenced are Dharam Parmanand Sukhdan, a resident of Jai Ambenagar, Shailesh Parmanand Sukhdan, Kiran Parmanand Sukhdan and Sonam Pankaj Bhanwar. The incident is said to have occurred in September 2022.

According to the case registered at Pardi police station, Nandini lived in Jai Ambenagar with her husband Dharam, brother-in-law Shailesh and mother-in-law Kiran. Barely a year after the marriage, quarrels began between her and her mother-in-law. It was alleged that the family members harassed Nandini physically and mentally, and that her sister-in-law Sonam also joined in.

Amid this harassment, on September 8, 2022, Nandini jumped from a moving train near Bela village in the Nagpur rural police area and took her life. The police initially registered it as a case of accidental death. Nandini's mother, however, accused her in-laws of harassment.

The police investigation found that the in-laws had been harassing Nandini continuously and that this was why she took her life. The police then registered a case of abetment of suicide against the four accused and arrested all of them on September 19, 2022.

During the trial, the court heard arguments from both sides and also examined the witnesses and evidence produced by the police. On this basis, the court held the four guilty under Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and passed the sentence.

Public prosecutor Adv. Yogita Raut appeared for the prosecution, while Adv. N. R. Kukwas appeared for the defence. Sub-inspector Amit Mishra had filed the chargesheet in court. Constables Vishnu Thawkar and Bhaskarrao Deogade handled court coordination.