Odisha man, parents sentenced to 10-year imprisonment in dowry death case

Sundargarh: A man and his parents were sentenced to 10-year imprisonment today for torturing his wife to death in 2019 at Luabahal village under Hemagir police limits in Sundargarh district. Additional District and Sessions Judge Court here imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of them.

They would have to undergo imprisonment for an additional period of three months in case they fail to pay the fine amount, the court ordered.

The convicted man was identified as Arif Qureshi, his father as Basheer Ahmed Qureshi alias Chand, and his mother as Sitara Bano. The victim woman was identified as Sahista Bano.

According to an official source, Sahista belonged to Badagaon village under Kokhraj police limits in Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh. She was the daughter of Kariman Bano and had married Arif on July 5, 2019. Arif was given a dowry of Rs 1 Lakh cash along with gold ornaments by Sahista’s family.

When Sahista went to her parent’s house for a visit after five days of her marriage, she was demanded Rs 1.5 Lakh more towards dowry by the family of Arif. She was being tortured very often.

On the intervening day (December 2, 2019), Sahista was tortured to death by Arif and his family.

After reaching Sundargarh from Uttar Pradesh, Sahista’s family lodged an FIR with the local police.

Hemagir police had launched a probe and later arrested the trio in this connection.