A 45-year-old man in Jammu and Kashmir was sentenced to death for beheading his mother in 2014 over a piece of land in Udhampur district.
“The crime of murder committed by the convict appears to be premeditated. The convict has committed the offense of murder by first attacking the old defenseless mother’s neck with a sickle and then by chopping off her head with an ax in a most inhuman and barbaric manner,” Principal Sessions Judge, Udhampur, Haq Nawaz Zargar said in his judgment on Saturday.
Jeet Singh, a resident of Ramnagar, had killed his mother Vaishno Devi on December 7, 2014 at his home. He also tried to kill his wife Santosh Devi when she tried to come to the rescue of his mother-in-law. The convict was demanding the rights of the land from the deceased and asking him to live with Mulakh Raj, the other son.
“The accused had also attempted to kill his wife when she intervened and tried to save the deceased from the brutal attacks of the accused. If the wife remained there or the sickle was not released from the hands of the convict, he would certainly have killed his wife as well.
“This case falls within the rarest of rare cases and, therefore, does not deserve any leniency in the sentence to be awarded to accused Jeet Singh, except that award of death sentence to the convict would be sufficient,” the judge said. Besides the death sentence, the court also sentenced Singh to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3,000 for attempt to murder, three years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 under the Arms Act, but said all the sentences Will go together.
(With inputs from PTI)
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