Delhi Court Sentences Man To Rigorous Life Imprisonment For Strangling Wife With Scarf In 2013

New Delhi, Jun 30: A Delhi court has sentenced a man to rigorous life imprisonment for the murder of his wife in 2013. Additional sessions judge Rakesh Kumar was hearing the arguments on the quantum of sentence against the accused Satender Pal Singh, who was convicted under Section 302 (murder) of IPC on June 5.

On June 6, the court's sentencing order read, "The convict is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 for having committed the offence punishable under section 302 of the IPC."

The prosecution alleged Singh strangulated his 35-year-old wife, Vimlesh, with her scarf on June 7, 2013.

In the 87-page conviction order, the court trashed Singh’s argument that his wife died by suicide due to mental illness, holding her death to be "homicidal".

The court observed signs of resistance at the scene of crime as broken pieces of bangles were scattered near the body coupled with her struggle, indicated by injury marks on her body.

"Photographs of the deceased also show that the ligature mark on her neck is atypical kind of mark which is not suggestive of suicidal hanging but it is more suggestive of a homicidal strangulation, which is also corroborated by the cause of death as mentioned in the postmortem report."

Singh, the court held, had strained relations with his wife and was last seen in his wife’s company, putting the onus on the accused to provide a plausible explanation about the circumstances of her death.

"The weapon of the offence, i.e, chunni (scarf) has been recovered and it has been proved the injury found on the person of the deceased could be caused by that chunni. In these circumstances, the accused owes an explanation but he has failed to do so and in his statement, he has simply stated that this is a case of suicide, which in the light of evidence produced by the prosecution and the photographs of the scene of crime is not plausible and is unacceptable," it said.

The prosecution was stated to have proved the charge against the man beyond any reasonable doubt.

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