Madras High Court upholds life sentence of man who burnt his wife to death

Suspecting her fidelity, the accused allegedly murdered her by pouring boiling milk and kerosene before setting her ablaze.
Madras High Court (Photo | D Sampath Kumar, EPS)
Madras High Court (Photo | D Sampath Kumar, EPS)

MADURAI: The Madras High Court has upheld the life sentence imposed by a lower court on a man who allegedly burnt his wife to death at Tirunelveli in 2011.

Suspecting her fidelity, the accused, Manikandan, allegedly murdered her by pouring boiling milk and kerosene before setting her ablaze.

In her dying declaration, the woman blamed her husband for her death.

The trial court in 2016 sentenced him to life following which he approached the High Court.

A division bench of the court's Madurai bench, comprising Justices P N Prakash and B Pugalendhi, recently dismissed the appeal, holding that the prosecution has proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Following the judgment, counsel for the petitioner brought to the court's notice the plight of the man's two children, aged 10 and 8, studying in a school run by a trust.

The counsel submitted that they had no means to take care of themselves.

The bench directed the state government to disburse a compensation of Rs three lakh to the minor girls under the victim compensation scheme.

The district legal services authority at Dindigul should deposit the amount in a bank and spend the quarterly interest on the education and other necessities of the two girls, the bench said.

It also directed the DGP prisons to deposit 20 per cent of the prisoner's earnings to the girls as per Tamil Nadu prison rules.

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