Maha: Court acquits woman accused of abetting son-in-law’s suicide

PTI, Dec 31, 2021, 10:55 AM IST

Acourt in Thane district of Maharashtra has acquitted a 55-year-old Navi Mumbai-based woman in an abetment to suicide case of her son-in-law.

In an order passed recently, district and additional sessions judge P M Gupta said the prosecution has failed to prove the charges against the accused – Sulochana Sambhaji Raut. The copy of the order was made available on Friday. The woman resides in Talavaligaon of Rabale in Navi Mumbai.

The prosecution told the court that the woman frequently quarrelled with her son-in-law, Sashikant Shelar, and did not allow her daughter to stay with him. On May 29, 2017, the man was admitted to a hospital after he consumed poison, and died a few days later while undergoing treatment.

Initially, the police had registered a case of attempt to murder against his mother-in-law. But after a thorough probe, the police booked her under abetment to suicide charges. In the order, the judge said that there is no evidence on record to prove that the deceased faced persistent harassment from the accused, leading him to commit suicide. Similarly, there is no positive or direct act on the part of accused that prompted him to end his life. The prosecution failed to prove that the accused had abetted or instigated the victim to commit suicide.