Court awards life imprisonment to son, mother

Additional District Judge of Balasore Ashok Kumar Panda pronounced the judgement yesterday after convicting the duo in the dowry torture and death case.

While the husband and mother-in-law of the deceased woman were given life imprisonment, a maid working in their house was given simple imprisonment for two years for assisting them in the case.

The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on each of the life convicts and Rs 5,000 on the maid servant.

According to prosecution, Bijaykrishna Bugudai of Harida village had married Pushpalata of a nearby village on December 4, 2007. On August 15, 2013 Pushpalata was brutally murdered and dumped in a place near Bijaykrishna’s house.

When Pushpalata's relatives came to know about the incident, they arrived at Bijayakrisna’s house and enquired about Pushpalata but her father-in-law informed them that his son had gone out with his wife.

Meanwhile, noticing a stench coming out from a nearby place, Pushpalata's relatives informed the police and her body was recovered which bore multiple injuries.

Six persons were subsequently arrested in this case.

Of the six, three of Bijaykrishna's relatives were acquitted due to lack of evidence and the rest have been convicted.