Mumbai: Two women accused of murdering their 15-year-old adopted niece in 2017 were acquitted by a sessions court on Tuesday after spending seven years in prison. The court held that the teenager may have died by suicide and said the prosecution failed to prove the murder charge.
According to the prosecution, Soliya Salim Sayyad, 42, and Sabira Bano Yusuf Sayyad, 48, were booked by Antop Hill police for allegedly strangling their niece to death on May 4, 2017, after subjecting her to physical and mental harassment.
The victim was the daughter of Mohd Hussain and Shabana. After Shabana died in a fire accident when the girl was four months old, she was raised by her maternal relatives, while her brother stayed with their paternal grandparents. In 2007, an adoption deed was signed by Hussain and Yusuf Siddique Sayyed.
The teenager was taken to hospital on May 4, 2017, after she was allegedly found unconscious in a bathroom. Doctors noticed a strangulation mark on her neck, prompting a murder investigation. The two women were arrested on May 5, 2018.
Defence lawyers Faiz Merchant and Sultan Khan argued that the death was a case of suicide. Citing medical evidence, including an intact hyoid bone, the court ruled that the prosecution failed to establish murder, conspiracy or destruction of evidence by the women.
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