Karnataka HC orders 2-year jail term for actress Abhinaya, kin in dowry case

BENGALURU: Yesteryear star Abhinaya, who made her Sandalwood debut with the film ‘Anubhava’ and continues to act in television serials, has been awarded two years in jail by the Karnataka High Court in a dowry harassment case. The court also sentenced her mother Gowramma and brother Srinivas to undergo two-year jail terms each.

Srinivas got married to Lakshmidevi in 1998 and at that time, 250 grams of gold and Rs 80,000 cash was given as dowry. The wedding was also held in a grand manner. However, Abhinaya and her family members allegedly started harassing Lakshmidevi mentally and physically for Rs 1 lakh in dowry. When she didn’t get the money, they threw her out of the house in Chandra Layout. In 2002, Lakshmidevi filed a dowry harassment case with the Chandra Layout police, her lawyer said.

Abhinaya’s brother and Lakshmidevi got married in 1998.

The police had filed a chargesheet against Abhinaya, her mother, brother and two others before a magistrate court. After the trial, the court convicted them and sentenced them to two years in jail. However, Abhinaya and her family members appealed before the district sessions court, which quashed the case.

But Lakshmidevi pursued the case and challenged the decision before the high court which has upheld the jail term for the five after 20 long years. Of them, two of the accused, Ramakrishna and Srinivas, died in the interim.