HC acquits mother-son duo in honour killing case

The prosecution alleged that the accused killed Farzana when she refused to shift to her matrimonial home to stay with her husband

July 13, 2014 09:27 am | Updated 09:27 am IST - NEW DELHI:

The Delhi High Court has acquitted a mother-son duo in an honour killing case in which the prosecution had charged them with killing the wife of her other son at Shahdara in 1995. The prosecution alleged that the accused killed her when she refused to shift to her matrimonial home to stay with her husband.

The trial court had held them guilty and sentenced each to life imprisonment.

The victim worked in a school run by the accused. During her employment, she fell in love with Deepak, one of the two sons of the woman. They got married and the victim left the job and joined a college for further studies.

The trial court had acquitted Deepak of the charge of murdering his wife.

According to the prosecution, the motive for the murder of Farzana was her refusal to stay with her husband at the matrimonial home till her elder sister got married.

Her family feared that by marrying into a Hindu family, Farzana might come in the way of the marriage her elder sister. The prosecution further alleged that Deepak, his brother Anil Kumar and their mother Bimla Devi were enraged over Farzana’s refusal to stay with her husband.

The prosecution alleged that Deepak had called Farzana at his residence and he along with another accused, who was also acquitted by the trial court, assaulted her with a metal pestle on her head causing her death on the spot.

The mother-son accused, Bimla Devi and Anil Kumar, were charged with dragging the body out of the house to dispose it. However, they were caught with it at the entrance of their house with blood stains on their clothes, the prosecution alleged on the basis of statements by the parents and brother of the victim.

However, according to a Division Bench of Justice P.K. Bhasin and Justice V.P. Vaish, the prosecution failed to prove any of the circumstances on which it sought conviction of Bimla Devi and Anil Kumar.

Acquitting the two on an appeal against their conviction by the trial court, the Bench said: “We are of the view that the prosecution cannot be said tohave been successful in establishing a chain of circumstances leading to the only conclusion that the present two accused-appellants were the killers of the deceased Farzana. So, this appeal filed by them deserves to be allowed.’’

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