II Additional District and Sessions Judge Sarvodaya Shettigar on Friday sentenced a 44-year-old man to life on finding him guilty of the murder of his wife and dowry harassment in a house in Moodushedde village in September 2011.
Raja, a cobbler, was accused of setting his wife Rani ablaze in their house on September 1, 2011. Their two children, Kiran and Devika, were not in the house when the incident occurred. Neighbours took Rani to Wenlock Hospital. After recovering partly from burns, Rani gave a statement three days later to Kavoor police accusing her husband of dowry harassment and torture. Rani died of burns on September 8.
The Kavoor police arrested Raja and filed a charge-sheet under Sections 302 (murder) and 498 (a) (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code.
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Public Prosecutors Shivaprasad Alva and B. Shekar Shetty examined witnesses before the judge. Among the witnesses included neighbours who had complained of public nuisance by an inebriated Raja in the area in June 2010.
The police had then called Raja to the police station and had warned him. The same neighbours had shifted an injured Rani to hospital after that incident.
Considering the statement of the injured Rani as dying declaration and also the evidence deposed by Raja’s neighbours, the judge convicted Raja on December 20, 2016. On Friday, the judge sentenced Raja to life and also directed him to pay a fine of Rs. 30,000 for murder. For the offence of 498 (a), the judge directed him to undergo imprisonment for one year and pay a fine of Rs. 20,000. Both the sentences will run concurrently, the judge said.
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The judge said that if Raja pays the entire fine amount of Rs. 50,000, then it should be paid to his two children. The judge directed the District Legal Services Authority to pay suitable compensation to the two children under the Karnataka Victim Compensation Scheme.