Man acquitted of abetment of suicide charges after 3 years

Kolkata: Amit Bera never knew that extending help to a distressed woman who later died due to an accident would make him fight three years of legal battle to get acquitted of facing charges of abetment of suicide.

17th Additional District and Session Judge of Alipore Court Subhasish Ghosal on Saturday acquitted Bera on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to produce any evidence to charge the latter in abetment.

The woman Dipika Halder had left her husband Nirmal Halder's residence in Regent Park area in October 2014 after allegedly being subjected to physical and mental torture.

Dipika was married in 2001. She was found to be wandering aimlessly like a lunatic infront of the studio when Bera out of sympathy spoke to her.

The woman told her about her plight.

Bera who worked as an electrician at Technician Studio, Tollygunge then took her to his home at Pailan and the woman started staying at his home along with Bera's mother and sister.

The woman had refused to return to her own house as her mother would always insist her to go back to her husband.

The twist in the tale occurred on January 25, 2015 when Dipika sustained severe burn injuries while cooking. She was admitted to Bangur Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

The woman's mother Shefali Das then lodged a complaint with Bishnupur police station alleging abetment of suicide against Bera,

who himself had sustained severe burn injuries in a bid to save her. Bera was arrested and put behind bars.

The case in defence of Bera was taken by advocate Subir Chakraborty who vowed to give justice to Bera. "During course of the trial, I pointed out a number of loopholes on the part of the prosecution in the investigation of the case.

The most notable among them was the complaint letter of the victim's mother which did not have her own signature but the thumb impression of the victim.

The formal FIR that was lodged by the police mentioned the date of the incident as January 30, 2015, though the incident actually took place on January 25," Chakraborty said.

Ultimately on Saturday, Bera was acquitted of the charges.