Delhi court sentences husband, mother-in-law to 12 years for dowry death

A Delhi court has sentenced Nitesh Kashyap and his mother Meena to 12 years' rigorous imprisonment each for the dowry death of his wife, who was 10 weeks pregnant when she died by suicide in June 2021. Additional Sessions Judge Priya Mahendra held that continuous cruelty and persistent dowry demands drove the woman to take her own life, ending not just one life but two. The court rejected the defence's claim of an infidel relationship, calling questioning her fidelity the "last straw" after she had already endured harassment over dowry.

The woman married Nitesh on March 15, 2021, and died within three months at her matrimonial home. Prosecutor Kamal Akhtar said she faced demands for a more expensive motorcycle, Rs 30,000 for an air conditioner, and gold articles for relatives after her pregnancy became known. The judge observed that she was deprived of proper food despite her early pregnancy, and noted that "the scourge of dowry harassment deaths is still prevalent in our Indian society." She held that the mother-son duo did not deserve any mercy.