Delhi court convicts man of killing wife

 A court here has convicted a man of killing his wife by strangulating her, saying the circumstances leading to the crime were “fully established”.

The court also observed the prosecution’s failure to prove the husband’s motive was not a ground to reject its case. This was because the complete chain of circumstances showed that “in all human probability” the offence of murder was committed by the accused.

Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Pahuja was hearing a case against Sadab, who was accused of throttling his wife Sana on September 29, 2017 in Sangam Vihar area.

“The circumstances establishing the guilt of the accused have been fully established,” he said in a judgment passed last week.

The judge said the chain of evidence in the present case was complete so as not to leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion regarding the accused’s innocence.

“The circumstances proved on record in this case show that in all human probability, it was the accused who had committed the murder of deceased Sana. In the considered view of this court, the circumstances are sufficient to form a complete chain that unerringly pointed towards the guilt of the accused,” ASJ Pahuja said.

The judge said the prosecution had “successfully established” its case by providing “cogent evidence.”

“Accordingly, the accused stands convicted for the offence under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code,” he said.

The court has posted the matter for filing of affidavits on August 31, following which the arguments on sentencing will be heard.

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The court rejected the defence counsel’s argument about the prosecution’s failure to prove the accused’s motive for killing his wife.

“When an offence like murder is committed in secrecy by the husband in a dwelling house, it will be difficult for the prosecution to establish what actually transpired between the husband and wife and what was his motive at that point in time to commit such crime,” the court said.

It said the failure to prove the motive was not fatal to the prosecution’s case “when other circumstances completed the chain to show that in all human probability, the act (of murder) must have been done by the accused.”