Bhubaneswar: A court in Balasore district has sentenced three members of a family to life imprisonment in connection with a dowry death case registered in 2012.
The Additional District and Sessions Court in Soro convicted Santosh Barik of Simulia and his parents for their role in the death of Santosh’s wife, Swapna Barik.
According to case records, Santosh married Swapna, a resident of Soro, in 2010. Soon after the marriage, Santosh and his parents allegedly began subjecting her to physical and mental harassment over demands for dowry.
Swapna died in 2012, barely two years into her marriage. Her parents subsequently lodged a police complaint, accusing her husband and in-laws of killing her for dowry.
After a detailed trial, during which 18 witnesses were examined and multiple pieces of evidence were reviewed, Soro Additional Sessions Judge Meenakshi Dash found the accused guilty. The court sentenced Santosh and his parents to life imprisonment.
The judgment brings closure to a case that had remained under trial for over a decade.
