The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Man gets life term for wife burning

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 07, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Man gets life term for wife burning

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI, APRIL 6. More than three years after young Archana Dalmia was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her husband, Sanjay Dalmia's house at West Mambalam, a Mahila Court here concluded that it was a cold-blooded murder and awarded life imprisonment to him.

The special judge, S. Vimala, also awarded a seven-year rigorous imprisonment to her parents-in-law — Vijayakumar Dalmia (55) and Suman Dalmia (51). "The message from Archana's charred flesh and blood seems to be that people must wake up to put out the social evil of dowry harassment and death," the judge observed today.

Archana reportedly committed "suicide" on the open terrace at 11 a.m. on January 30, 2001. She and Sanjay (27) were married on January 22, 1999 and they had an 11-month-old boy, Piyush Dalmia.

While the prosecution contended that it was a case of dowry harassment and murder, the accused maintained that their house was a "paradise for Archana and that she was living very happily till the last minute of her life." They said Archana's death was a "simple case of suicide."

However, the judge, in her 61-page order, accepted most of the arguments by advocate S. Ananthanarayanan, and said: "The hypothesis of suicide cannot be true at all because the `suicide' is said to have taken place on an open terrace. A person intending to commit suicide would choose a closed place where the chances of rescue are rare. Also, broken bangles and bloodstains were found all over the staircase leading to the terrace, sidewalls and screen cloths.

"The doctor has noted some unburnt hair only at the back of the head, thereby suggesting that Archana must have been in a lying posture. Her feet are also burnt. Normally, a person on fire would be running here and there and the fire would spread in upward direction. In such circumstances, the feet would not suffer such extensive burn injuries."

Ms. Vimala also concluded that in all probability Archana was alive when she was set afire. "The logical inference is that they (the in-laws) burnt her to project it as a case of suicide." The judge said the charge that the in-laws demanded more jewels from Archana could not be false at all, as, at the time of her death, she was not wearing any jewel, not even studs, nose screw, `thali' and `metti'.

The judge rejected all defence arguments such as infirmities in the statements of the victim's father on the nature of dowry given to the accused; the contention that there was no mention of dowry receipts in the income tax returns they filed and that the victim's father himself said, immediately after Archana's death, that it was suicide.

A father reeling under the shock of his daughter's death could not be expected to be cogent while mentioning the items given as dowry, the judge reasoned. That he was not well versed in Tamil, coupled with the fact that there was a huge space between his signed statement and the signature, would prove that the signature was obtained in a blank sheet and the statements were written afterwards, concluded Ms. Vimala.

The judge observed that "by burning Archana to death, the accused have burnt the hopes of her parents, the future of the child and emotions of a civilised mankind."

She directed the three to pay a compensation of Rs. 50,000 each to Archana's father, Premchand Goel, and to deposit another Rs. 50,000 each in the name of Piyush.

Two other accused — Archana's brother-in-law Ajay Dalmia (24) and her sister-in-law Mathuri Dalmia (23) — were, however, acquitted of all charges.

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