A court acquitted Anil Kumar of dowry death and cruelty charges. The prosecution failed to prove a direct link to the wife’s death (AI-generated image used for representational purposes)
Key witnesses, including her mother and brother, did not support the prosecution’s allegations and attributed her death to depression, the judge noted while acquitting Anil Kumar of charges of dowry death and cruelty in connection with the death of his wife, Anjali, at their matrimonial home in June 2021.
The prosecution failed to establish a specific or proximate link between the alleged harassment and the woman’s death, additional sessions judge Anuj Agrawal said.
They said Anjali was never harassed for dowry and was depressed following the death of her newborn son about a year earlier. The court concluded the allegations to be “general and omnibus in nature”, and held that the prosecution had failed to establish any specific act of cruelty linked to dowry demands, particularly in the period immediately preceding Anjali’s death. The prosecution alleged that Anjali was subjected to persistent harassment by Kumar and his family over insufficient dowry. It was alleged a quarrel took place between them after Anjali returned from her brother’s wedding, which Kumar didn’t attend. Later that night, he informed her family that she had died by suicide.