Boys’ testimony nails father for abetting mother’s suicide

A nine-year-old boy’s deposition before a Delhi court on <g data-gr-id="14">cruel</g> treatment meted out to his mother has landed his father in jail for six years for abetting her suicide.

Additional Sessions Judge Hemani Malhotra relied on the boy’s statement, while convicting the 36-year-old Delhi resident and said evidence led by the prosecution establishes a nexus between the cruelty meted out by him to his wife and the suicide committed by her. The court awarded six years’ rigorous imprisonment to Manohar Lal, saying that his conduct drove his wife Santosh to take the extreme step and deprived their three children of their mother’s affection.

It said the child “very blatantly” refuted the suggestion that he was tutored by the relatives of his deceased mother. “There was no reason for the complainant (boy) to depose so strongly against his own father. Rather, it was extremely courageous of him to testify against his sole living parent not once but thrice,” the court said. 

“I have no hesitation to hold that the prosecution has successfully and conclusively established that Santosh was subjected to cruelty by Manohar Lal and that he abetted the suicide of his wife. Lal is held guilty under Sections 498A 306 of IPC,” the judge said.