Mumbai triple suicide: Family acquitted after 16 years

Sixteen years after three women (daughters-in-law in one family) committed suicide, their husbands and the in-laws have been acquitted of harassment and abettement charges, thanks to weak prosecution evidence.

Hiralal Choudhari, Gendabai and their three sons - Kailas, Subhash and Sanjay - were acquitted by the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court after the prosecution failed to prove its case against them. While observing that something seriously wrong had driven the three women to poison themselves to death in 1996, justice AH Joshi said, “That the three young daughters-in-law should gather at an under-construction house, join in a common intention, consume poison and die on the spot shows that their desire to die was immensely intense, clearly indicating that things around them were grossly wrong.”

“The tragic incident should not cloud judgment when the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, as conviction must be impelled by unrefutable proof of ingredients of offence and not sentiments,” he added justice Joshi.

Rapping the prosecution for failing to provide sufficient evidence to nail the accused, the court observed: “The prosecution’s case is replete with suggestions and does not comprise even the smallest piece of evidence of the acts committed by the accused.”

In the case dating back to 1996, Mandabai, Sumanbai and Lalitabai, wives of Kailas, Subhash and Sanjay Chaudhari respectively, consumed poison. On learning of their deaths, their parents approached the police charging the Chaudharis of demanding money from each of them. When they could not fulfil their demands, the Chaudharis took to harassing their daughters.