Lucknow: A Hardoi court has sentenced a man and his son to life imprisonment for burning his 27-year-old daughter-in-law and two granddaughters alive for dowry in 2014.The court held that the prosecution conclusively established that the victims were set on fire while they were alive, rejecting the claim of the defence that they died in an accidental gas cylinder explosion.Additional district and sessions judge Kusumlata convicted Ram Babu, the victim’s father-in-law, and Pummy alias Hari Prakash, her brother-in-law, on charges of murder.Besides life imprisonment, the court imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on the convicts and directed that half of the amount be paid to the complainant as compensation.On March 7, 2014, Ramturant, a resident of Mohammadpur village in Hardoi filed a case alleging that his sister, Ramakanti (27), and her two minor daughters, aged three years and seven months, respectively, were set ablaze by her in-laws over dowry.He said that his sister was married to Ram Bahadur Pal of Gonipurwa in 2009 and was subjected to harassment by her husband and in-laws for failing to bring a buffalo in dowry. Ramturant claimed that the harassment increased after she gave birth to two daughters.During the trial, the defence argued that the deaths were either caused by accidental explosion of a cooking gas cylinder or that the woman might have set herself and her daughters ablaze. However, the court found no evidence to support either claim.The prosecution’s case was strengthened by the post-mortem examination which revealed carbon particles were found in Ramakanti’s windpipe, indicating that she was breathing when the fire broke out.The presence of carbon soot established that she was burned alive, making medical evidence a crucial factor in securing conviction.The court observed that had the fire been accidental, the damage inside the room would have been more uniform.Although two prosecution witnesses turned hostile during the trial, the court relied on scientific circumstantial evidence.Following investigation, police initially named six family members in the FIR but after examining evidence, charges were pursued only against Ram Babu and his son Hari Prakash.
