Ghaziabad: A local court sentenced a 26-year-old man to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife, while relying on the testimony of the adopted teenage daughter of the deceased woman, who witnessed the crime in 2021, to convict the accused.The girl’s biological father, Guddu Khan, had given her away to his sister, Sahana, since she had no children of her own. The convict, Shamshad alias Raju, and Sahana had only been married for 70 days before the crime.The case stems from an FIR lodged with the Nandgram police by Guddu on November 28, 2021, accusing Shamshad of killing his sister the previous night. Based on the complaint, police registered the case under sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing simple hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and seized the paper cutter used by the convict to slit his wife’s throat. Shamshad went into hiding and was arrested nearly a year-and-a-half later on February 24, 2023. Police had declared a bounty of Rs 25,000 for his arrest.After Shamshad’s arrest, police filed a chargesheet and the court took cognisance on March 29, 2023, and framed charges within two months. He pleaded not guilty and sought a trial.The prosecution presented 11 witnesses, including the teenage girl, Afreen, who was an eyewitness to the entire incident. Apart from Guddu, the testimony given by family members, neighbours and the doctor who conducted the autopsy also proved crucial in deciding the case.Aafreen told the court that she was sleeping beside her mother when she suddenly woke up hearing a fight between her parents. She said that while Shamshad wanted to relocate to Delhi, her mother was reluctant, and both started arguing. “It was in a fit of rage that my father sat on my mother, held her by the hair with his left hand and, using a cutter, slit her throat,” she told the court.She added that she started screaming and tried to run out of the room for help, but Shamshad slapped her and threatened to kill her if she informed anyone. He then escaped, leaving the door open, following which the girl went to neighbours for help.Her statement was corroborated by Guddu. “Since my sister had no children of her own, she adopted my daughter and, after the second marriage, started living with the convict in a house close to ours,” he said. He further said that he was not aware of their fights, as it had only been 70 days since their wedding when the incident took place.The defence questioned Afreen’s statement on the grounds that the adoption of Aafreen by Sahana and Shamshad was not proven. It was also argued by the defence that this was Sahana’s second marriage, while the prosecution did not present convincing evidence regarding her divorce from her first husband.However, the court said that it must neither conclude whether Aafreen was adopted by the deceased nor if her adoption was relevant to the case.“It is noteworthy that PW2 (Afreen) is the only eyewitness to the incident and gave a natural and credible testimony. Neither her examination-in-chief nor her cross-examination revealed any facts that would cast doubt on her testimony. Furthermore, there is no material contradiction between this witness and the testimony of other witnesses in the case,” the court observed, ruling that, with the testimony of the doctor, it was established beyond doubt that the deceased died after her throat was slit.Additional sessions judge Arwind Mishr, while pronouncing the man guilty on Saturday, desisted from awarding capital punishment after weighing the circumstances and awarded life imprisonment, imposing a total fine of Rs 1.06 lakh. In compliance with Section 357 of the CrPC (victim compensation), the court considered the eyewitness, Afreen, the victim instead of the plaintiff in the case, and ordered that 90% of the fine amount be given to her as compensation.
