Lack of evidence: Court acquits man of murdering mother-in-law

New Delhi: A Rohini court acquitted a man of murder for killing his mother-in-law and sentenced him to six months in prison under a section of the arms act. The court last week dismissed all other charges against him for lack of material evidence against the accused and several prosecution witnesses turning hostile, including his wife, who was the complainant in the case.

According to the FIR registered in the case, a drunk Raman Beniwal came to pick a fight with his wife, who was at her parents' house with her children. While under the influence of alcohol, Beniwal took out his revolver, a .32 caliber, and threatened to kill her.

In her complaint to the police, Beniwal's wife alleged that when her mother tried to intervene, the accused pointed the revolver at his mother-in-law and threatened to kill

her first.

According to the FIR, he then shot his mother-in-law in the chest, who succumbed to her injuries while in hospital. However, Beniwal's wife turned hostile while giving her testimony under oath.

She told the court that Beniwal had given his gun to her mother for safekeeping and when he tried to get violent with her on the night in question, she took out the gun and it was accidentally fired, leading to her death.

Beniwal's children were also brought on as witnesses for the prosecution but claimed to not remember anything other than their grandmother lying in a pool of blood at the

crime scene.

Defence Lawyer Satnarain Sharma argued that in the absence of material evidence, there is no basis for finding Beniwal guilty of murder and other charges mentioned in the chargesheet.

Judge Ajay Pandey said that it is not possible for the court to find Beniwal guilty because of lack of consistency in his wife's statement. The court observed that it "cannot comment or presume the circumstances under which the FIR was registered or about the relationship existing at the time of incidence between the husband and wife", and convicted him for passing on a licensed weapon to an unauthorised person.