NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his wife by setting her on fire in 2014. The court held that the case did not fall under the “rarest of rare” category.
The FIR was registered at Sarai Rohilla Railway Station police station. On April 9, 2025, Additional Sessions Judge Virender Kumar Kharta found Giriraj Kishor Bhardwaj guilty of murdering his wife Kusum.
During sentencing on May 17, the court rejected the plea that poverty should reduce the sentence. “Although aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating ones, this case does not fall within the rarest of rare doctrine,” the judge said.
The defence cited Bhardwaj’s poor background, first-time offender status, his ailing father. The prosecution argued for maximum punishment, noting the crime’s brutality and its impact on the children. The court directed compensation to Kusum’s legal heirs under Section 357A of CrPC, as per the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme, 2018, since Kusum had died.