Honor killing: Man who murdered 'hapless' wife gets life term

Smriti Singh, TNN May 30, 2012

NEW DELHI: She was a rape victim but her husband blamed her for the incident and punished her with death. Three years after Devender Pal Singh killed his wife after he got to know that she was raped by his neighbour, the 25-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court, after a trial court termed it a case of honour killing. The couple had just been married for a year.

"The case in hands is redolent of the primordial savageness of mankind. It sings vociferously how much cruelty a man can assume and that too for vanity," additional sessions Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri said while holding Devender guilty of murdering his wife Poonam Pal in 2009.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict, noting that a "mejudice, condign punishment" of life term would "convey to the society the result of killing a hapless woman like victim Pal so brutally".

Talking about the plight of women in the country, the court said, "A girl is no man's child. Her parents call her dhan paraya (property of someone else) since her birth. She is brought up and taught to stand to the expectation of he prospective in-laws."

The incident dates back to September 6, 2009 when Devender beat his wife and then pushed her to death from the roof of his house. Devender took this step after Poonam told him that their neighbour had raped her. He even called his relatives and "publicized" the incident to humiliate her, the court noted.

In its judgement, the court said that a message needed to be sent to the society so that an offence like this should not be dealt with leniency. "It raises hackles to imagine the agony which the victim would have suffered. She was beaten black and blue by her husband (accused) without any fault of her. Even as per convict, she was forced to surrender by the offender by tying her hand and gagging her mouth to commit rape. She was insulted before the relatives including her own family members, i.e brother and his wife. She was beaten repeatedly and was killed like an animal. An offender like convict in this case... who takes away life of another and that of a subservient and subdued lady like his own wife does not deserve to enjoy fruits of life," the court order stated.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-30/delhi/31899276_1_life-term-life-imprisonment-trial-court