23 years of waiting for justice: Married woman was burnt alive for dowry, High Court gave life imprisonment to husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law

Manpreet Kaur died of burns in Patiala in 2002. The trial court considered it as dowry death, against which a petition was filed in the High Court. The High Court considered it as a case of murder and sentenced the culprits.

After 23 years, the Punjab-Haryana High Court considered the death of Manpreet Kaur in Patiala in 2002 as murder. The High Court convicted the deceased’s husband Mukesh Kumar, mother-in-law Nirmala Devi and sister-in-law Sarita and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The court said that the trial court considered it as dowry death without paying attention to the facts, whereas it was a straight case of murder.

The people convicted and the Punjab government had approached the High Court against the order of the trial court. The victim’s father had complained to the police that when he went to his daughter’s house, he found his daughter in a burnt condition. With the help of villagers, she was admitted to Rajindra Hospital. Magistrate reached there with police and took the statement of the victim.

Refused to bring money for bike

The victim told that a day before the incident, she had a quarrel with her husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Husband had asked her to bring 30 thousand rupees from her parents’ house for the bike. When she did not do so, she was given electric shock.

Statement was given before dying

On September 29, 2002, her husband brought kerosene, mother-in-law caught him and sister-in-law held his feet. After this, kerosene was poured on her and she was set on fire. The trial court considered it as dowry death. The court said that the victim had given a statement in this case just before dying. On the application of the magistrate, the doctor had declared the victim completely fit for the statement. The people of the victim’s house were not present at the time of the statement, so there is no possibility of any kind of pressure. In such a situation, after 23 years, the High Court has found all three guilty of murder in this case and sentenced them to life imprisonment.