Madhya Pradesh High Court reduced the life imprisonment of the accused of murdering his pregnant wife. The court reduced his sentence to seven years. The court held that the attack was not the result of a “premeditated conspiracy” but was carried out suddenly and under serious provocation at the instigation of the wife. The wife provocatively said that she could “have a thousand husbands” like him.
In the decision given on June 18, the division bench of Justice Vivek Aggarwal and Justice Avnindra Kumar Singh said that the woman’s statement was an indication of the worthless status of her husband. This meant that he had no value as a human being or as a husband. According to the prosecution, Shiv Kahar, a resident of Chaurai block of Chhindwara, had killed his wife Kiran on September 18, 2021. At that time the woman was seven months pregnant.
Why did the husband take such a step?
Shiv Kahar hit him on the head with a stone, due to which he died. The prosecution said that after the incident, he himself called his father-in-law and informed the police station about his wife’s murder. After this he was arrested. The accused had said in his statement that he and his wife Kiran had an argument on the day of the incident. After this she said, “I can have a thousand husbands like you.” This made him angry and he took this step.”
Chhindwara district court had sentenced Shiv Kahar to life imprisonment for murder. But, later an appeal was filed against this sentence in MP High Court. Talking about the High Court’s decision, the prosecution said that in this case of murder of the wife by the husband due to “sudden grave provocation” given by the wife, the High Court has reduced the life sentence of the accused to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.
The court said, this is not a well thought out conspiracy
The High Court said that the murder was not premeditated, but was done suddenly and under serious provocation due to the alleged abusive words of the wife. In its order, the bench said, “Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we find that this was not a crime committed as part of a premeditated conspiracy. A stone lying nearby was used to cause injury to Kiran resulting in her death and after the incident, he (the accused) himself informed the police and Kiran’s relatives about the incident.” The court said, “When a wife tells her husband that ‘she can have thousands of husbands like him’, it indicates the husband’s worthlessness. That is, he has no value as a human being or as a husband. Therefore, it can be considered as an act of sudden and grave provocation.”
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