FIVE OF A FAMILY GET 5 YRS’ JAIL FOR HARASSMENT

Five members of a family have been sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment by a Thane court on Wednesday.

The residents of Vada taluka have been found guilty of harassing a newly married woman and driving her to commit suicide.

Thane sessions Judge V V Virkar sentenced the five accused and imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on some of them for continuously harassing the victim.

Prosecutor APP Ruma Navale told the court that the five accused, which include the woman’s husband, her fatherin law, mother-in-law, sister-inlaw and her husband harassed her as her father was not able to give a gold chain.

They used to beat her and would not allow her to visit her parent’s house.

Fed up with the constant torture, Hemangi Hemant Rao, then 19, ended her life by consuming poison on February 5, 2010.

The accused who were convicted and sentenced were Hemant Damodar Rao, 30, Urmila D Rao, 48, Damodar D Rao, 62, Sudarshana Kshitiza Dinesh Patil, 26, and Dinesh Gajanan Patil, 35.

All the accused are residents of Goundmal village which comes under the Vada taluka.

They were charged under sections 498(A); 306, 304(b); 323, 504, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.