MUMBAI: The Sewree sessions court on Saturday sentenced a 62-year-old woman to life imprisonment for burning her daughter-in-law to death over dowry.
Mangal Bharat Thorat, 62, was sentenced to life behind bars after she was found guilty for murdering and harassing her daughter-in-law Neelam Thorat (19).
Neelam was married to Mangal's son Sunil Thorat on March 30, 2005. Since then, Neelam had been subjected to torture, the prosecution argued.
Neelam's father had paid a sum of Rs one lakh along with gold jwellery to Thorat's family as dowry.
This, however, was not enough for the Thorat family who then started torturing Neelam and also threw her out of the house twice.
On July 3, 2005, Mangal threatened Neelam to either bring Rs 2 lakh or divorce her son.
Following an argument, Mangal beat Neelam up and later poured kerosene all over her and set her ablaze. Neelam, who sustained 85 per cent burns, succumbed to her injuries at Bhatia hospital.
Neelam's father-in-law and husband who were also accused in the case were acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence.
Additional judge A V Palsule, however, observed that "although her husband was also equally a culprit, there is no substantial evidence to convict him."
