Man beats wife to death for coming home drunk, gets jailed

A man who beat his wife to death after she came home drunk has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Delhi court which noted that he “mercilessly” assaulted her in a fit of rage.

The court convicted Vinod Kumar, a South Delhi resident, of the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under the IPC saying, “It was nothing but the objectionable conduct and behaviour of the victim, which was seemingly not approved by him and in a fit of rage he mercilessly assaulted her. Motive was to punish her unapproved conduct.” 

Additional Sessions Judge Vimal Kumar Yadav, while reducing the murder charge, said, “The absence of the victim from the house and her coming back home at around 10 pm, that too drunk, was the reason which triggered anger.” 

“A husband getting angry in such a situation is not unusual but the accused should have controlled the anger and certainly should not have resorted to the kind of assault which was there on the deceased. Nevertheless in these circumstances, the intention to kill is difficult to infer, but intention to cause bodily harm is very much there,” the judge said.

The court, while awarding rigorous imprisonment, also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him saying his act needs to be taken into account and there being no justification, it needs to be condemned and punished.” 

It held Vinod guilty under section 304 (II) (an act done with knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention to cause death) of IPC.

The court noted that Vinod and the victim Sumita had a love marriage and in these circumstances, “there should not have been any occasion between the couple to reach a stage where one party of the marriage became a victim at the hands of the other that too where one gets killed in process.”

 

Noting that Vinod had no intention to kill his wife, the court said, “There was no premeditation, no preparation and seemingly no conscious and deliberate planning of any kind as no vital part of the body was targeted, except seemingly hitting mindlessly in a fit of anger without any dangerous, deadly or for that matter any such weapon...” 

“These factors take out the case from the ambit and definition of murder and bring it into the realm of culpable homicide not amounting to murder,” it added.

According to prosecution, on the night of September 29, 2012 the woman came home at around 10 PM in a drunk condition which agitated her husband, who then beat her up with a belt and kicked her leading to her death.

A complaint was lodged by the victim’s brother after he was informed by police about his sister’s death the next day after which Vinod was arrested for the offence of murder under the IPC. The court, which relied on the testimonies of the victim’s five-year-old son, the couple’s neighbours and the post mortem report, noted that the accused also suspected the woman’s character.

It also said that the accused, after beating his wife, did not take her to hospital despite being repeatedly requested by his neighbour.