Bombay high court upholds mum-in-law's life term
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court has upheld the life imprisonment given to a 65-year-old woman who had set her daughter-in-law on fire in March 2006. The court observed that in previous similar offences, all members of the husband’s family have been involved. Here, unusually, only the mother-in-law was to blame.
Justice VK Tahilramani and justice ML Tahaliyani dismissed the appeal filed by Indirabai Kakde of Warud,Wardha district. They challenged the September 11, 2008 judgment of the ad-hoc additional sessions judge sentencing her to life imprisonment under Section 302 (punishment for murder) and one year rigorous imprisonment under 498A (husband or relative of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code.
Kakde’s lawyer contended that there was sufficient time to tutor daughter-in-law, Rekha into implicating his client but the evidence showed that during the recording of the dying declaration, neither her relatives nor police were present.
“In the present case, neither Rekha nor her relatives have implicated any other accused person except the appellant (Kakde). In fact, all of the Rekha’s relatives have given a clean chit to her husband and father-in-law,’ judges said. They added the fact that only Kakde had been involved in this case which makes the evidence of the dying declaration and the other witnesses even more believable.
According to prosecution, Rekha married Padmakar seven years ago and after two years of their marriage, they moved in with his parents. On March 26, 2006 Kakde poured kerosene on Rekha and set her on fire. When Padmakar returned from work, he took Rekha to the hospital where she succumbed to burn injuries on March 31, 2006.
SOURCE - https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bombay-high-court-upholds-mum-in-law-s-life-term_1548666
