Court terms wife-burning for dowry as terrorism

New Delhi: A youth in his early twenties was sent on Thursday to jail for 10 years by a Delhi court for burning alive his newly-wed 18-yearold bride for dowry with the judge comparing the crime with terrorism.
“In-laws are turning out to be out-laws, perpetrating terrorism which destroys the matrimonial home. The terrorist is dowry and it is spreading tentacles in every possible direction,” said district judge Sunita Gupta, jailing Nafis Khan of Welcome Colony in North East Delhi.
“She (bride) expects not only to be a daughter-in-law, but a daughter, in fact But the alarming rise in the number of cases involving harassment of newly-wed girls for dowry shatters the dreams,” said the court which also imposed a fine of Rs 7,000 on Nafis, rejecting his plea for leniency. “Dowry system has become a menace to the society. Such offences are required to be dealt with sternly. The mere fact that the convict is a young man is not a mitigating circumstance. As such, he does not deserve any leniency," the court said. PTI