Dowry death `victim' produced in court
KANPUR: Deepika alias Neha, whose in-laws are behind the bars on charges of dowry death since the last four months, was arrested and produced before the court on Monday.
The girl was taken into judicial custody and sent to nari niketan. The judicial official fixed February 22 as next date to hear the case.
Counsel for accused Dinesh Awasthi (Deepika's father-in-law), Sonu Awasthi (husband) and Raman, brother-in-law moved an application before the court to summon the guardians of Deepika and ask them to identify the girl in the court.
Deepika, daughter of Kamlesh Shukla, was married to Sonu Awasthi, a resident of Ganj Gopalpur on July 9, 2010.
She disappeared from her in-laws' house in October, 2010. The girl could not be traced. Hence, her mother Sudha Shukla lodged an FIR and charged her husband and in-laws of dowry death. She identified a woman's body, which was found in Panki canal, as that of Deepika on October 27, 2010.
The Chaubeypur police arrested Dinesh, Sonu and Raman Awasthi on charges of dowry death. Since then, the three accused were in jail. The police completed its investigation and filed chargesheet against them on December 27, 2010. The investigation officer gave a list of 15 witnesses including parents of the girl and brother.
According to defence counsel PN Tripathi, the girl was spotted in Barra locality. Soon it was confirmed that Deepika was alive and living at Barra with her paramour Manish, a resident of Baikunthpur in Bithoor.
Once it was confirmed that Deepika was alive, her parents filed an affidavit in support of accused, claiming them as innocent. The kin of accused and Deepika's mother Sudha Shukla also reported the matter to DIG, who passed the investigation to the circle officer, Chaubeypur. The police claimed to nab her from Chaubeypur railway station and produced her in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Ramabai Nagar.
Since CJM was on leave, judicial magistrate took her in judicial custody and asked her to appear before the court on February 22 to get her statement.
