Calcutta High Court on Monday acquitted a man and his two sons in a case of abetment to suicide, but the verdict came nearly four years after the father died and a year after the last of the trio had completed his jail term.

Pranabesh Bardhan and sons Prasanta and Ashok were convicted by an Alipore court in 1999 for abetting his elder daughter-in-law Mahamaya’s suicide. He spent five years in prison and died in 2004, shortly after completing his sentence.

Prasanta, the main accused, was in jail for eight years. Ashok had received the same sentence, but was freed a year earlier because of ailments.

The prosecution based its case on the allegation that Prasanta, who married Mahamaya in 1993 and went to Saudi Arabia just six days later, returned after a year and began torturing his wife because he suspected her of having an affair with Ashok in his absence. This, it said, drove Mahamaya to suicide on March 30, 1995.

Partha Sarathi Bhattacharya, the lawyer for the Bardhans, said Mahamaya’s brother Prabir Sinha said in his complaint at Entally police station that his sister was murdered by her in-laws.

He said Prasanta had told him that he intended to divorce Mahamaya so she and Ashok could get married.

The torture allegedly began when Prabir opposed Prasanta. Pranabesh’s alleged crime was that he joined his son in torturing Mahamaya.

The police investigation concluded that Mahamaya did have an illicit relationship with Ashok and that it led to tension in the family and, later, her death.

The additional sessions judge of Alipore not only held Prasanta and Pranabesh guilty, but also sentenced Ashok on the charge of developing an illicit relationship with his sister-in-law.

When the high court’s judgment came, there was little in it for the Bardhans except the satisfaction of having their dignity restored.