Meerut: A local court in Rampur has acquitted a 60-year-old man in a dowry harassment case after he spent over four months in jail following his arrest on a non-bailable warrant for repeatedly failing to appear before the court.
Defence advocate Hemant Kumar Joshi said the case dates back to 2006, when Laxmi Devi, a resident of Sahukara locality under Bilaspur Kotwali, filed a complaint against her husband Manoj , his parents Rajrani and Laxmi Narayan, and his brother Govind Kumar – residents of Anaj Mandi under Bahjoi police station in Sambhal district. Govind was released after about 10 days but later left the area to work as a labourer and did not appear on subsequent hearing dates,” Joshi said. After Govind continued to remain absent, the court issued a fresh non-bailable warrant against him, following which he was arrested on April 8 this year. The court granted him bail on June 6, but he remained in jail as he was unable to arrange the required surety of Rs 20,000.
Because of his age and illness, “Manoj, Rajrani and Govind, were arrested while Laxmi Narayan obtained bail. Rajrani was released on bail after three days and Manoj after nearly three months. An application seeking bail was filed on Govind’s behalf through the office of chief defence counsel Praveen Kumar Singh.
In 2019, the court acquitted Rajrani and Laxmi Narayan. The court of additional chief judicial magistrate Shwetank Chauhan acquitted Govind on Aug 12.
During the proceedings, Laxmi Devi told the court that Govind had never harassed her, that she and Manoj had obtained a mutual-consent divorce after filing the case, and that Manoj had since died. The court later separated the proceedings against Govind from the main case, while the trial continued against the other accused. Manoj died during the proceedings. Assistant defence counsel Ramesh Chandra Rathore subsequently pursued the case.