New Delhi: A man, along with his son, has been awarded life term by a Delhi court for murdering his daughter-in-law as she used to stand up against "harassment" caused to her by them.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau held guilty Wazirpur residents Roshan Khan (65) and his son Babloo (22) for stabbing to death Mumtaz saying the victim`s only fault was that she objected to the harassment by her in-laws.
The court also sent Babloo to seven years in jail for attempting to murder his brother Mukhtar, husband of Mumtaz, over family dispute and made it clear that his sentence would run one after the other.
The judge, in its 148-page judgement, observed that offences against women are rising by the day and it is a cause of great concern for the courts.
"Courts cannot permit the main United Nations theme `a promise is a promise`, `end violence against women` to be a hollow. It takes more than laws to change peoples attitude about women. There is a need to change the parochial, patriarchal mindset which plagues the country.
"Women are vulnerable and unsafe everywhere and there is a sense of despair and disgust in the society. Worst thing one can do is to tolerate or turn a blind eye to any crime against women. In the present case the only fault of Mumtaz was that she stood up against the harassment caused to her by her in laws and approached the law enforcement agencies for redressal of her grievances which annoyed her in laws immensely," the court said.
The incident took place on the morning of July 26, 2012 when Khan, Babloo and his minor brother put up a fight with Mukhtar and repeatedly stabbed him with knife with an intention to murder him.
When Mumtaz came forward to save her husband and called police, the accused also stabbed her repeatedly to teach her a lesson as she used to stood up against their harassment caused to her. She died on the spot.
