पत्नी की हत्या के आरोप में साढ़े सात साल जेल में बिताने पर हाईकोर्ट ने राज्य सरकार को एक लाख रुपये का मुआवजा देने को कहा

The High Court has asked the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for spending seven and a half years in jail for the murder of his wife.

The Lucknow Bench of the High Court has not only acquitted the accused husband, who was convicted by the Sessions Court for the murder of his wife, but has also ordered the state government to pay him a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for spending seven and a half years in jail. The court said that the prosecution could not prove the fact that the body recovered in the case and said to be that of the accused's wife, was actually that of the accused's wife or not.

This decision has been given by the division bench of Justice AR Masoodi and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi while accepting the criminal appeal filed by husband Hafiz Khan. The case is of Risiya police station of Bahraich district. Hafiz Khan was accused of murdering his wife Saira Bano. Saira Bano was married to Hafiz Khan on 11 May 2016. On 15 January 2017, the deceased's sister Shabana lodged a complaint at the police station that her sister was being tortured for dowry. Later, on the information of an informer, the police recovered a body from Kennu's grave and then Shabana and her another sister Parveen identified the body as sister Saira Bano. After investigation, the police filed a chargesheet against the accused husband on 10 April 2017. Additional Sessions Judge Pancham of Bahraich sentenced the husband to life imprisonment for the murder of Saira Bano on 27 March 2019 and also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000. The husband challenged the conviction order in the High Court in 2019. The court said in its judgment that as per the Panchnama report and post-mortem report, there were some clothes, a thread and an amulet on the dead body but the prosecution kept mum about those items and no question was asked to any witness about those items to prove that the said body was that of Saira Bano. The court said that therefore there was no evidence to prove that Saira Bano was murdered and the body was that of Saira Bano. The court further said in its order that the accused husband was taken into custody after the FIR was lodged on 15 January 2017 and he is in jail till date, now that this court has found that there was no evidence against him, it is justified to order the cost of the trial as well as compensation for his imprisonment of seven and a half years without evidence.

Additional Sessions Judge Ashutosh Kumar Singh convicted husband Neeraj Goswami, father-in-law Vinod Kumar Goswami, mother-in-law Pramila Goswami and brother-in-law Amit Kumar Goswami of harassing the married woman and forcing her to have an abortion when her dowry demand was not met. He sentenced them to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 48,000. The court has sentenced cousin mother-in-law Shakuntala Goswami to 3 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 13,000. The fine amount will be given to the victim. ADGC Pankaj Kumar Srivastava on behalf of the prosecution said that the victim Preeti Goswami had filed the report in the women's police station on 12 July 2010.

In which it was said that she works as a team developer in a private company. She was married to Neeraj Goswami, a resident of the metropolis, on 20 February 2009. Her father spent Rs. 14 lakh on the marriage. Despite this, when she reached her in-laws' house, everyone including her husband started taunting her for less dowry. It is alleged that her husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law and brother-in-law forcibly got her abortion done in the year 2009. It is alleged that she was locked in a room and kerosene was poured on her and they were about to set her on fire, when her sister Sangita Giri came. On hearing the noise, outsiders gathered. After this incident, the family members were pacified but they then started beating her. Salt was rubbed on the wounds caused by the beating. Her in-laws demanded Rs. 10 lakhs as dowry. On not giving it, they snatched her jewellery and threw her out of the house. After the beating, she was hospitalized.