10 years on, Delhi court acquits man accused of killing wife

A Delhi court has acquitted a man accused of murdering his wife by setting her ablaze in 2016, observing that conviction of the accused cannot be solely based on the dying declaration. Conviction of the accused cannot be solely based on the dying declaration, the court said, acquitting Choudhary of the charge.

A Delhi court has acquitted a man accused of murdering his wife by setting her ablaze in 2016, observing that conviction of the accused cannot be solely based on the dying declaration. Additional Sessions Judge Himanshu Raman Singh also said that the prosecution failed to prove the case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. The court was hearing a case against Arvind Choudhary, a resident of Uttam Nagar. In an order dated February 7, the court said, ''In view of the foregoing discussion, this court is of the view that the prosecution has not been able to prove its case against accused Arvind Choudhary beyond reasonable doubt. Accused is accordingly acquitted for the offence punishable under IPC Section 302 (murder).'' Choudhary, was accused of pouring petrol on his wife, Pooja, and setting her on fire at their residence on September 19, 2016. She succumbed to burn injuries on September 27. An FIR was registered at Uttam Nagar police station and murder charges were framed against the husband. The prosecution case was primarily based on a statement recorded by an executive magistrate on the day of the incident, in which the deceased alleged that her husband poured petrol on her and ignited it with a matchstick following a domestic dispute. The statement was treated as her dying declaration. However, during the trial, the deceased's father and brother testified that when they met her in hospital on September 21, she told them that she had caught fire accidentally while cooking food. They also referred to a letter purportedly sent to the station house officer of Uttam Nagar police station a day before her death, seeking to withdraw the earlier complaint and stating that no one was responsible for the incident. ''Multiple inconsistent versions of the deceased, coupled with the fact that the brother and father of the deceased have themselves deposed in the court that the victim had told them that she had caught fire while preparing food,'' the judge said. The court noted that these versions were ''absolutely contrary to each other'' and that the inconsistencies were material in nature. The court pointed out discrepancies in the prosecution's case, including the non-recovery of a bucket allegedly used to extract petrol from a scooter, as mentioned in the dying declaration. ''Conviction of the accused cannot be solely based on the dying declaration,'' the court said, acquitting Choudhary of the charge.

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