Observing that “wife bashing” has no place in a civilised society and “violent” husbands deserve no mercy, a Delhi court has sentenced a man to three years in jail for piercing his wife with a trident after a quarrel with her over a petty issue.
“Wife beating is no longer inevitable and a private affair being legally outlawed in India is unacceptable. There can be no justification for the same and wife bashers require to be socially exposed and publicly taken to task,” Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said, while sentencing Ravinder.
“A message is required to be sent, loud and clear that wife bashing has no place in a civilised society and violent husbands deserve no mercy,” the judge said, imposing a fine of Rs 50,000 to be given to his wife Sandhya.
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According to the prosecution, Sandhya used to live at her parents’ house along with her two children due to a matrimonial discord with Ravinder.
On December 2, 2005, when she went to her husband’s house in Uttam Nagar to collect some of her documents, Ravinder along with his mother Krishna and sister Rita inflicted grievous injuries on her face and body with a ’trishul’, it said.
“In the present case, the extent of violence shown by Ravinder is unimaginable. The marital abuse which Sandhya has suffered is not merely a case of domestic spat but a criminal act of assault and violation of civil rights calling for punishment to be inflicted upon the convict as any other act of violence,” the court said.
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The court noted that Ravinder, 44, had disfigured Sandhya’s face with the trident, leading to her being hospitalised for 13 days. The injuries left her face permanently disfigured.
The court had earlier acquitted Ravinder’s mother and sister from the charges of attempting to murder Sandhya.
The judge said violent husbands often get away lightly either because “women silently accept the same in order to save their marriage or the victim is financially handicapped and sending the husband to jail would mean the end of financial sustenance for herself and her children.”
While convicting Ravinder, a painter by profession, under section 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide) of IPC, the court said, “To say the wife is of a quarrelsome nature or to question her character is no justification for causing physical injury to her.”
Discussing the intention with which a man batters his wife, the judge said it is done with the intent of controlling the partner by inducing fear and pain.
“Wife beating is a silent crime and is prevalent world over, cutting across all sections of the society,” the court said.