Maharashtra: Man acquitted in murder case as no witness shows up in court

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A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has acquitted a 45-year-old man who was tried for allegedly killing his wife, saying the prosecution could not get any witness.

In his order of February 24, Additional Sessions Judge AS Bhagwat gave the benefit of doubt to the accused Atul Rebinath Burman and set him free.

As per the prosecution, Burman strangulated his wife to death on February 2, 2014. He was arrested under the Indian Penal Code section 302.

When the case came up for hearing, summonses were issued to the witnesses but none of them turned up in the court.

Also read: Maharashtra: Man acquitted in abetment of suicide case by Thane court

In his order, the judge said that the police had arrested the accused on mere suspicion. In the absence of witnesses, the court gave him the benefit of doubt, the order said.

In a separate case, a court at Malegaon in Maharashtra's Nashik district has convicted a Muslim man in a case of road accident brawl but instead of imprisonment, it has ordered him to plant two trees and offer namaz (prayers) five times a day for 21 days.

Magistrate Tejwant Singh Sandhu in the order passed on February 27 noted that provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act granted powers to a magistrate to release a convict after admonition or appropriate warning to ensure he or she does not repeat the offence.

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