Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Jun 5, 2012: Man gets 10 years for abetting wife's suicide

TNN | Jun 5, 2012, 05.37AM IST
CHENNAI: A 32-year-old man has been sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment by a city court for abetting the suicide of his wife when she was nine months pregnant. 

According to the prosecution, the driver, Saettu Prabhu, and Meera, who lived in neighbouring villages, fell in love and got married about 11 years ago. However, Prabhu was in the habit of consuming alcohol and started abusing Meera. Meera's father Natarajan, in his testimony, said she would often call him and tell him that her husband assaulted her either because he suspected her fidelity or because he wanted money. Though Natarajan got a panchayat meeting convened, where Prabhu was told to take better care of his wife, the problems continued. 

Meera and Prabhu were staying in a hut at Nandanam. They had two children . Additional public prosecutor Gowri Ashokan said Meera was nine months pregnant with her third child when Prabhu came home in an inebriated condition on December 26, 2008. Suspecting her fidelity, he asked her whose child she was carrying and abused her. 

Fed up of the harassment, Meera doused herself with kerosene and threatened to kill self. Witnesses told court that Prabhu then handed her a matchbox and dared her to light it. When she did, he tried to save her and sustained injuries. Meera was admitted to Kilpauk Medical College and died the next day. She told her father that she took the extreme due to the constant abuse. She also gave a dying declaration to the XVIII metropolitan magistrate recounting the whole incident. 

Prabhu's lawyers argued that his gesture in trying to save Meera should be considered and he should be acquitted. But women's court judge Meena Satheesh observed that he was responsible for driving her to commit suicide.
Link: Man gets 10 years for abetting wife's suicide

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