2011 murder | Court sentences man to life imprisonment for killing wife

Srinagar, Dec 2: A court in central Kashmir’s Budgam district Saturday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his wife in 2011.

The Court of Additional Sessions Judge Budgam (Fast Track), Aijaz Ahmad Khan awarded life imprisonment to Mushtaq Ahmad Pandit of Tangnar Kralpora after convicting him of the murder of his wife.

“The instant case does not fall with the preview of rarest of the rarest case as such convict is sentenced to life imprisonment with fine of Rs 3 lakh for the offence under Section 302 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC),” the court said deciding on the quantum of punishment of the convict. “In default of payment of fine, the convict will undergo further simple imprisonment for one year.”

The court ordered that both the sentences should run concurrently.

It said that the execution of the sentence should be subject to confirmation by the High Court in terms of Section 376 CrPC.

Awarding the punishment, the court said, “Justice demands courts should impose punishment befitting the crime so that the courts reflect public abhorrence of the crime.”

It said: “The court has to decide the punishment after considering all aggravating and mitigating factors and the circumstances in which the crime has been committed.”

After hearing the parties, the court observed that the circumstances were required to be considered while awarding the sentence.

“The convict (Pandit) took the deceased who happened to be his wife on the fateful day when the deceased had come to attend a marriage function to his home,” the court said.

The court said that upon this there was some heated argument, which led to some scuffle and in the meantime convict took the knife kept in the drawer of the bed in the bedroom and inflicted various injuries out of which the knife got stuck in the back of the deceased with the result there was instantaneous death of the deceased.

“The knife was taken out during post-mortem,” the court said.

It underscored that all these facts were admitted by the convict in his statement recorded in terms of Section 164 of CrPC.

“The act was thus committed in the spur of the moment and actuated by anger, jealousy, pride, or sense of honour therefore does not call for severe punishment,” the court said.

Observing that the deceased had one sister and father and mother who had no source of income, the judge said: “Given the trauma suffered by the parents of the deceased, I deem it proper to recommend the case of the family of the deceased to Chairman District Legal Services Authority Budgam for according of compensation in terms of J&K Victim Compensation Scheme.”

According to the prosecution, the instant case dates back when on May 1, 2011, information was received by Police Station Chadoora that the wife of Mushtaq Ahmad Pandit of Tanghar Krakpora was killed by Pandit and the body was lying in his house.

Upon this information, a case FIR No 57/2011 under Section 302 (murder) of RPC was registered at Police Station Chadoora.

During the investigation, the body of the deceased was recovered from the house of Pandit.

The body had several cuts and a knife stuck in the back which was taken out during the post-mortem at SDH Chadoora and accordingly seized.

The statements of eyewitnesses came to be recorded and a statement of one of the witnesses recorded under Section 164 A CrPc revealed that Pandit committed the offence on the day of occurrence in the evening.

On the day of occurrence, the family members of the deceased were present in the house of the uncle of the deceased in connection with a marriage function and did not have any knowledge about the occurrence.

The search for Pandit was laid who from the day of occurrence was absconding.

It came to the notice of the Police that the accused had fled to Delhi and thereafter had come to Jammu and on May 13, 2011, he was arrested in Jammu.