HC upholds conviction of woman’s husband, son for burning her alive

New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the conviction of a woman's husband and son for setting her on fire, leading to her death.

While the woman's husband died during the pendency of the appeal, her son has been absconding.

A bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Vimal Kumar Yadav dismissed the appeal of the two men challenging their conviction in the murder case and said all the evidence, coupled with the woman's dying declaration, makes a foolproof case against her husband Didar Singh and son Maan Singh.

The sentence of the two convicts is not known. The offence of murder is punishable with a minimum of life imprisonment and a maximum of the death penalty.

The high court, at the beginning of its verdict, observed: "A mother is the only person who carries you for nine months in her belly, three years in her arms, and forever in her heart." Quoting a line from a song -- "Poot kapoot sune hai par na maata sunee kumaata (Bad sons are heard of, but not bad mothers)" -- the bench said there is no scope for selfishness when it comes to the bond between a mother and her child.

"It would have to be something truly grave and devastating, where allegations of murder and destroying evidence are levelled against the son and the husband," it said.

The court noted that the death was neither suicidal nor accidental. It said, "Dying declaration is not only consistent but appears to be true. The deceased had no reason to name her grown-up son or husband to falsely implicate them. She had nothing to gain." The incident dates back to April 2000, when the victim, Gian Kaur, was sleeping on the terrace of her house and in the early morning hours, her daughter and some neighbours found her burning alive.

Her daughter and son Maan Singh took her to the Safdarjung Hospital, where she was admitted with 100 per cent burns and died the same day.

The woman disclosed to the doctor and the magistrate in her dying declaration that her husband and son poured kerosene oil over her and set her ablaze. The duo was arrested by the police and convicted by a trial court in 2002.

The counsel for the convicts submitted that, being the victim's husband and son, they had no motive to kill her, and the allegation appeared to be outrageous, with no motive on record.

The bench said if something adverse happens to the mother involving her son, then there must be a very drastic reason behind it.

It added that the dying declaration -- free from undue influence, fabrication, pressure, inducement or for any temporal gain -- leaves no room for the appellants to challenge the conclusion. PTI SKV PRK PRK