The Additional District and Sessions Court at Mavli in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district has sentenced a man to death for murdering his wife by setting her on fire.
The prosecution said the man, Kishan Lal, used to repeatedly humiliate his wife, Laxmi, with comments on her skin colour and weight before eventually killing her on June 24, 2017.
The court sentenced him to death on Saturday. He was also slapped with a Rs 50,000 fine and sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment.
According to the court order, on the night of the incident, Kishan Lal told Laxmi that he had brought a medicine that would make her fair. While Laxmi suspected that the substance smelled like acid, she allowed it to be applied on her body to please her husband, prosecutors said, adding that Kishan Lal then lit an incense stick and brought it close to her, causing her body to catch fire. He then poured the remaining chemical from the bottle onto her, which intensified the flames.
He then fled the scene while his parents and sister tried to extinguish the fire with water. Before succumbing to her injuries, Laxmi gave a complete statement to the magistrate regarding the incident.
Public Prosecutor Dinesh Paliwal presented 14 witnesses and the dying declaration of the victim, which the court found reliable and consistent. The judge observed that Kishan Lal’s act was not accidental but a deliberate, premeditated, and cruel crime. The court dismissed any defence of mental illness or provocation, noting that his actions were conscious and intentional.
The judgment said that Kishan Lal’s crime was not only against his wife but also against humanity. The court described the act as barbaric and ruled that the case fell within the “rarest of rare” category, leaving no scope for leniency.
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The court concluded that Kishan Lal’s betrayal of his legally wedded wife, coupled with the extreme cruelty inflicted upon her, had shaken society’s conscience. It emphasised that forgiveness was impossible and that only the death penalty could uphold public faith in the justice system.
While handing out the death penalty, the court clarified that under Sections 366 to 369 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the sentence would be effective only after confirmation by a Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court. A reference in the prescribed format will, therefore, be sent to the High Court for approval.
Kishan Lal was convicted under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to death by hanging, along with a fine of Rs 50,000. In case of non-payment of the fine, he will undergo an additional year of rigorous imprisonment.
