After kids testify, man gets 20 yrs for killing wife
7 Aug 2013 11:12 PM GMT
Eye-witness account of three minor children has led to their father’s conviction by a Delhi court which sent him to jail for 20 years for ‘brutally’ stabbing to death his wife for suspected illicit relation.
District judge JR Aryan awarded life term to Raghunandan, 42, while making it clear that he shall not be released until he serves at least 20 years in jail.
‘A sentence of life imprisonment is awarded to accused but then considering the brutality... he shall not come out of jail until he serves at least 20 years of imprisonment including period already undergone,’ the court said.
Raghunandan, a vegetable vendor residing in northeast Delhi, was held guilty of murdering his wife Meena Devi on the basis of testimony of three of his four minor children, who had witnessed the crime. The prosecution case was that on the intervening night of 14-15 July, 2010, Raghunandan came home from work and sent his kids to sleep. At around 1.30 am, three minors woke up to shrieks of their mother and found their father stabbing her.
During the trial, the siblings narrated the scene of crime and said their father had locked their maternal grandparents in an adjoining room before assaulting their mother.
‘To my considered view, evidence of this witness stands test of the scrutiny and has not been rendered unbelievable or unacceptable for any reason...,’ the court said.
District judge JR Aryan awarded life term to Raghunandan, 42, while making it clear that he shall not be released until he serves at least 20 years in jail.
‘A sentence of life imprisonment is awarded to accused but then considering the brutality... he shall not come out of jail until he serves at least 20 years of imprisonment including period already undergone,’ the court said.
Raghunandan, a vegetable vendor residing in northeast Delhi, was held guilty of murdering his wife Meena Devi on the basis of testimony of three of his four minor children, who had witnessed the crime. The prosecution case was that on the intervening night of 14-15 July, 2010, Raghunandan came home from work and sent his kids to sleep. At around 1.30 am, three minors woke up to shrieks of their mother and found their father stabbing her.
During the trial, the siblings narrated the scene of crime and said their father had locked their maternal grandparents in an adjoining room before assaulting their mother.
‘To my considered view, evidence of this witness stands test of the scrutiny and has not been rendered unbelievable or unacceptable for any reason...,’ the court said.
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