A court at Bareilly has given life term imprisonment sentence to a 45-year-old man who had accused his mentally challenged wife of being killed by accident. The court termed the crime “inhuman” and slapped an extra fine of ₹15,000 on the Man.
The other Sessions Judge Avinash Kumar Singh found Vinod Kumar guilty of murdering his wife Satyavati in the Bareilly district’s Chaina village. The accused apparently became frustrated with his wife’s mental illness and over the years took her to task with repeated abuse and violence, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors told the court that the incident happened on May 1-2, overnight. In the meantime, Vinod, allegedly tied Satyavati’s hands and legs to a cot with ropes and then joined an aluminium cable to an electric power source and electrocuted her several times. Even though she was in unbearable pain and cried out for help, the accused kept giving her electric shocks until she died, prosecutors said.
The prosecution presented nine witnesses to support the charges at trial. However, evidence given before the court challenges Vinod’s defence that his wife had accidentally touched a live wire.
Investigators also found that Vinod, after committing the crime, tried to destroy evidence and establish an alibi. He is alleged to have thrown the rope and electric cable that he used in the killing on the roof of the house before setting off for work at the nearby brick kiln around 2am.
The court found the killing to be deliberate and ‘most cruel’, and sentenced the killer to life imprisonment for the crime. The judgment has brought cases of domestic abuse and violence against mentally challenged people to the fore.