Character’s:

1. Father in law- Mr. Kumar

2. Mother in law- Mrs. Kumar
3. Sister in law- Kumudha
4. Deceased’s papa- Ramesh
5. Deceased’s mom- Rekha
6. Husband- Virendra Kumar
7. Wife- Latha

Fact’s from respondent:

1. Latha and Virendra Kumar married for 4 years and were living with 3 members of their
family.

3. On 1 September 2016 she was found dead via hanging from the fan with the sari around
her neck.

4.The autopsy report indicates the cause of death to be suffocation and time of death to be
1 am.

5.There were some bruises on the victim’s body. However, the report couldn’t identify the
exact source of the bruises.

6. My client and her wife were facing some difficulties in their marriage. – Defence

7. My client’s daughter/ the deceased and her husband were facing some difficulties in their
marriage. - Prosecution

8. The couple didn’t have a child even after 4 years of the marriage and were involved in
several heated arguments ever since Virendra lost his job in April the very same year.

9. Virendra being financially burdened and the only working member in the family
appeared highly stressed and couldn’t find a way to cope with the requirements of his
family. He then asked for some financial support from his father in law to help him in the
time of crisis. – Defence

10. Virendra being financially burdened and the only working member in the family
appeared highly stressed and couldn’t find a way to cope with the requirements of his
family. So, he asked for financial support which deceased’s father refused to provide. -
Prosecution

11. The CCTV footage from the nearby shop shows Virendra storming out of the house at
12:47 am after getting into a heated argument with his wife 13 mins prior to her death.
Statement by Ramesh made to police in his FIR

He stated that Latha was living a happy married life but things got changed after her husband
Virendra lost his job. He was unemployed for 5 months and was pressurizing Latha to extort him
for a sum of 10 Lakh rupees for financial support. He was constantly pestering Latha with the
fact that she never brought anything with her since marriage. Latha on 22 August, 2016, called
him and told him that she was not happy in her married life any more. She also mentioned that
they were fighting and arguing a lot and was crying the whole time on call. And also, after that
day she stopped picking up his calls.
But his son in law never stopped calling him and that too many times in a day even at unusual
hours asking for money. After he got the information of suicide by Latha’s sister in law, he
received another call from Mrs. Kumar asking him to take away the dead body of his daughter.

Police has started the investigation and write the statement of following persons under
Section 161 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973-
Ramesh put allegations on Virendra that he had committed “dowry death” as his conduct was
suspicious. Kumudha deceased’s sister in law saw bruises on Latha’s body. She also said that
she heard her brother and Latha fighting the entire day. And the CCTV footage of a nearby shop
shows Virendra storming out of his house precisely 13 minutes before Latha’s death. Virendra
returned next morning around 6 am and found Latha hanging with a saree around her neck.

Statements of Virendra’s family members

Virendra stated that on 1 September when he came back home around 6 am he saw his wife
hanging and was in a state of shock and that is why he didn’t call the deceased’s family. He also
stated that he had a heated argument with Latha on the night of 31 August about the deceased’s
father not supporting them in this crisis after which he stormed out of his house and was staying
at his friend’s house to cool of his heat.

Kumudha gave the statement that she heard a lot of screams and arguments and sounds of
things being smashed during the fight of her brother and sister in law. The fight started in the
evening after Virendra returned home and he was already fuming with anger. The fight
continued for some hours after which she slept and found Latha hanging the next morning, after
which she immediately informed the deceased’s father and asked him to reach the place.
Mrs Kumar gave the statement that she knew about the tense situation between her son and
daughter in law. She was not aware of the heated argument as she was out of the house and
returned late and due to exhaustion fell asleep and was shocked to see Latha hanging the next
morning. She also admitted about calling the deceased’s father and asking him to take away the
dead body.

Mr Kumar in his statement told the police about the growing differences in his son and daughter
in law’s relationship after Virendra lost his job. He also said that he was out with his wife and
after returning didn’t heard any sound and went to sleep and found Latha dead the next morning.

Post Mortem Report

Post mortem report shows that there were bruises on Latha’s body which were caused roughly 5
hours before her death and cause of death was asphyxia due to hanging.

The investigation officer submits his report in the court and trial court found them not guilty on
the bases of above grounds