Jabalpur: A former chemistry professor sentenced to life imprisonment for killing her husband by electrocution has challenged the autopsy report in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, arguing the case based on her own knowledge of the subject.
The murder case of 2021 came into limelight after a video of the woman's arguments in the courtroom recently surfaced on social media. The HC has reserved its judgement on her plea challenging her conviction.
Mamta Pathak (65) worked as a professor of chemistry at a post-graduate college in Chhatarpur, and as per the court, she has consciously refused to accept legal aid.
Pathak submitted before the court in April this year that she was studying her own case for the last one-and-a-half years.
In the viral video, the woman, who decided to argue her case on her own based on her knowledge as a chemistry teacher, is seen saying in her defence that it is "not possible to differentiate between thermal and electric burn marks during a post-mortem (by simply looking at them)".
She claims that a burn mark found on a body needs to be removed and treated with chemicals to ascertain its nature.
The judge then asks her "are you a chemistry professor," to which she nods in the affirmative and remarks, "I don't know how the post-mortem has said this is an electric burn mark." On April 29 this year, a division bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Devnarayan Mishra reserved the order on Pathak's appeal challenging her conviction.
The prosecution's case was that the appellant (Mamta Pathak) murdered her husband Dr Neeraj Pathak (63), who was also a government doctor, by electrocution.
On April 29, 2021, her husband was found dead at his house in Chhatarpur, with electricity burn marks detected at multiple places on the body.
An FIR was registered on May 6, 2021, against an unidentified person on the woman's complaint. The autopsy was conducted by a team of doctors, as per the prosecution.
The postmortem indicated Dr Neeraj Pathak died due to cardio respiratory failure as a result of electric current at multiple sites.
On the basis of statements recorded during the investigation, Mamta Pathak was made an accused in the case.
After the completion of the investigation, the chargesheet was filed on August 5, 2021.
The woman, while challenging her conviction, argued in the court that there was no clinching evidence available against her.
In the video which has surfaced, the HC asks her that there are allegations against her of murdering her husband by electrocution and that the doctor who conducted the post-mortem has categorically said there were signs of electric shock.
The woman is seen arguing it is not possible to differentiate between thermal and electric burn marks during the post-mortem. The burn marks found on a body need to be removed and treated with chemicals to ascertain its source, she further argues.
The judge then asks her, "Are you a chemistry professor?" The woman replies, "Yes...I don't know how the postmortem has said this is an electric burn mark."
The high court extended the period of temporary suspension of her sentence till the date of judgement, which is yet to be pronounced, as per the prosecution.
While reserving the order, the HC said, "As Mamta Pathak submits that her period of temporary suspension of sentence be extended till the date of delivery of judgment, this prayer is accepted. Her period of temporary suspension is extended till the date of judgement."
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