The Delhi High Court on Friday acquitted a mentally-ill woman who was convicted of the murder of her eight-year-old nephew, saying that she was incapable of knowing the nature of the act at the time when the crime was committed.
A Bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice I.S. Mehta noted that though there can be no doubt that it is the woman who committed the act but she, was “for reason of unsoundness of mind, incapable of knowing the nature of the act or that it was contrary to law”.
‘Husband suppressed medical documents’
Advocate Ajay Verma, who started working on her case pro bono after a chance meeting in jail two years back, said her husband did not want her to be released and had suppressed crucial medical documents.
Interestingly, Mr. Verma used the documents produced by the husband before a local family court in his divorce petition, which had records of the treatment she received for her mental condition.
The incident happened on a rainy afternoon on September 12, 2010, when the woman took her deceased nephew to the terrace of an apartment complex in IP Extension here for a walk and later strangulated the boy. She then walked inside a police station and confessed to the crime.
Soon after the incident, she was admitted to the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), and trial in the present case was put on hold till she was fit to stand trial a year later. It was revealed during the trial that she was living with her brother — the father of the deceased boy — while fighting for the guardianship of her two children, who were with her husband.
Her brother claimed that she “had lost her mental balance and was under depression” as she was not allowed to meet her children. He added that she loved her nephew. Her sister-in-law, the mother of the deceased boy, too said that she “was affectionate towards the deceased and used to help him with his studies too”.
While the trial court sentenced her to life imprisonment for the crime, the High Court overturned the verdict saying it was a fit case of application of Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code.
As per the section, nothing is an offence which is done by a person who at the time of doing it by reason of unsoundness of mind is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law.
The Bench noted that she was undergoing treatment for mental illness long before the fateful incident.
‘Suicidal thoughts’
“Her treatment records at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital show that she had attempted suicide, had suicidal thoughts as well as thoughts about killing her children,” the court remarked, directing that she could be released to a relative who could keep her in safe custody.
