Mumbai: 82-year-old man gets 5-year jail term for abetting daughter-in-law's suicide in 2012

An 82-year-old man was given five years of rigorous imprisonment for abetting his daughter-in-law's suicide in 2012. The man was found guilty of subjecting the victim to cruelty.

A court in Mumbai convicted and sentenced an 82-year-old man to five years' of rigorous imprisonment for abetting his daughter-in-law's suicide in 2012. The court observed that the behaviour of Vasant Morkar towards his daugher-in-law was not only 'rude' and 'unsympathetic' but also inhumane.

The victim, Priya, ended her life as she was subjected to various atrocities and was forced to sleep in the common corridor outside the house for over a year. Pronouncing Morkar guilty, the court said he had routinely abused Priya in a drunken state, threatening to kill her, which caused her mental harassment.

The victim had been living with her parents for ten years due to space constraints at her in-law's house. She had returned to her husband's house only a year before her death after her husband assured her that they would live separately in another house of the same building. But the tenants continued living in Morkar's second house and Priya was forced to sleep in the common corridor, TOI reported.

Priya's son told the court that in November 2012, he and his mother came home and found the tenants' footwear in the common corridor. When Priya lambasted them, a heated argument broke out between them.

The witness told the court that his mother and grandfather also landed in a dispute, adding that his grandfather was drunk. He said that he abused and threatened to kill his mother. He further stated that his grandfather also told the tenants that if the fight goes on like this, he will file a police complaint against Priya. The son said the next evening, his mother was found hanging and later died in a hospital.

The court found Vasant Morkar guilty under section 498A (husband or relative of husband subjecting woman to cruelty) and under section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. However, it pronounced a moderate punishment considering the age of the man, the Free Press Journal (FPJ) said.

“It is not expected by any daughter-in-law that she would be given such inhuman treatmentand made to stay in the gallery of the house, that too, for a year,” it remarked. (sic)