Observing that it was a seriouscrime against humanity, the Bombay High Court has upheld alower court's judgement awarding life imprisonment to a25-year-old man for sexually harassing his wife and eventuallysetting her on fire.
The mother-in-law of the victim was also convicted andsentenced to life on charges of murder along with her son.
"The conduct of both the appellants as revealed from theevidence shows that both of them shared the common intentionto pour kerosene on the victim, Manisha, and set her on fire",observed justices Sadhna Jadhav and V K Tahilramani.
"Once we come to a conclusion that there was a commonintention on the part of both to kill the victim, it isimmaterial who actually set Manisha on fire," the judges notedin their order delivered recently.
Manisha, a resident of Belati village in Solapur, in herdying declarations to a Magistrate, family members and doctor,had alleged that her husband, Babasaheb Waghmare, was a sexmaniac and used to consume tablets bought from a chemist shopwhere he was working before having sex with her.
Manisha, who married Babasaheb in December 2004, allegedthat her husband used to harass her sexually following whichshe sustained injuries on her private parts.
The victim said she was harassed by her mother-in-lawParvati Waghmare over domestic chores because of which sheleft her husband's home and returned to her parents.
However, a reconciliation meeting took place between twofamilies at a gram panchayat on September 18, 2006, and shereturned to her husband's home on the same day after herin-laws assured that they would not harass her.
On the very next day, when she was answering nature'scall, Manisha alleged that her husband and mother forciblyentered the toilet, poured kerosene on her and torched her asthey were angry over the reconciliation meeting.
Manisha was admitted to hospital where she passed away onSeptember 20, 2006.
Solapur sessions judge convicted both and sentenced themto life. The duo challenged the verdict in the high courtwhich upheld the lower court's order and disposed of theirpetition.