THENI: In a rarest of rare instance, a 36-year-old man from Theni was sentenced to death for brutally killing his 19-year-old pregnant wife and unborn child in 2015.
What provoked the Theni Additional District Judge (Fast Track Court) A Abdul Kadhar to award capital punishment was not just the crime but the manner in which it was committed.
According to the charge sheet filed by the Chinnamanur police, the deceased N Karpagavalli was married to the convict M Suresh when she was only 14 years old and the couple had two daughters. When Karpagavalli was pregnant with her third child, Suresh suspected her fidelity and started torturing her.
The court categorically records that two weeks before the incident, Suresh had inflicted burn injuries on Karpagavalli with cigarette butts. On the afternoon of July 21, 2015, he committed what could be called a cold-blooded murder.
The charge sheet said that Suresh tortured Karpagavalli by causing burn injuries on her breasts with a cigarette. He repeatedly punched her on the stomach and private parts, causing her to fall down from the bed and strangled her with thaali (sacred thread worn during the marriage).
While the unborn child died due to the blows on the stomach, Karpagavalli suffered severe blood loss. Though she was admitted to the Chinnamanur GH, she died the following day.
Charges framed
Based on Karpagavalli’s father Nallathambi’s complaint, Chinnamanur police registered a case against Suresh and framed charges under Section 302 (Murder) and 316 (Causing death of quick unborn child by act amounting to culpable homicide) of Indian Penal Code. Additional Public Prosecutor A Vellaichamy appeared for the police. Nearly 20 witnesses and 13 material evidence were produced.
Judgment
While pronouncing his judgment on Tuesday, the Additional District Judge Kadhar took note of the extreme suffering undergone by the victim before and at the time of her death.
Elaborating on the manner in which the murder was committed and also taking into account the Supreme Court’s guidelines while imposing death penalty, the judge expressed he is convinced that this is a ‘rarest of rare’ case. He pronounced that Suresh should be hanged to death for murdering Karpagavalli and imposed 10 years rigorous imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine for the murder of the unborn child.