School teacher gets 18 months' jail for dowry demands

Chandigarh, March 15 : A local court here Monday sentenced a Sanskrit teacher in a Chandigarh government school and his parents to 18 months' rigorous imprisonment for harassing his wife for dowry.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Anshul Berry found Dharminder Shastri and his parents Bhoop Singh and Chanderpatti guilty of harassing Anjala and sent them to jail.

According to the police, a case was filed against Shastri Jan 15, 2002, on the complaint filed by his wife. Shastri was then posted as a teacher of Sanskrit in the Government School of village Khuda Ali Sher in Chandigarh.

"Anjala married with Shastri in December 1998. In her complaint, she alleged that just after a few days of the marriage, her husband and in-laws started harassing her to bring more dowry, including a television, a washing machine and cash," her counsel said.

Later, the case was handed over to police's crime against women cell. Anjala was the second wife of Shastri as he had already married Simla Devi in February 1996.